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The document compiles all GPS buoy data sets submitted to the IOTC Secretariat for the period January-July 2020. Data were submitted using Form 3BU on a monthly basis by the EU (France, Italy, and Spain), Japan, Mauritius and Seychelles following the requirements expressed by Para. 24 of Resolution 19/02. Information available on the vessels active in 2019 and authorized to operate within the IOTC area of competence in 2020 suggests that GPS buoy data may be missing for the purse seine fleets of Korea (2 purse seiners) and Kenya (6 purse seiners). Daily positions of operational buoys equipping the drifting floating objects monitored by the purse seine fleets provide a holistic view of the magnitude and extent of the use of buoys and FADs in the Indian Ocean. Between January and July 2020, the total daily number of operational buoys varied between 10,207 and 11,583, with each purse seiner monitoring an average of 250 buoys per day. Information available on the sharing of buoys between vessels shows that some of the buoys equipping floating objects occurring East of 75°E are shared among vessels from the same company. The spatial distribution of the satellite-tracked buoys shows the highest density in the purse seine fishing grounds of the Western Indian Ocean, between 10°S and 10°N and 40-70°E. Although the buoys numbers and spatial density pattern were relatively stable over January-July 2020, the buoy data give insight into the complex dynamics of FAD deployments and drift in the Indian Ocean.
