Catch statistic form Tuna Longline Landing at Port of Phuket, Thailand, during 2013-2017

Catch statistic from foreign tuna longline fishery unloading at Phuket ports, Thailand during 2013-2017 show that there were 1,097 trips and 29,890 tons of total catch. The highest number of trip and total catch was in 2015 as 295 trips and 10,575 tons. Taiwan was a major part which accounted for 69.74% of total trips and 63.15 % of total catch (5 years average). In 2017, the number of vessels unloading was declined sharply when compared to 2015 and the trend of total catch per trip was decreased dramatically since 2015 as well. These cause the total catch in 2017 (2,268 tons) lower than ever. Catch composition, tuna species were accounted for 67.66% of total catch, the remaining was billfish and other fish as 23.64 and 8.70%. Considering specific to tropical tuna, the highest amount occurred in 2015 equal 8,508 tons. After that, tuna catch was reduced continuously due to the decreasing of vessels and catch rate, tuna was unloading 1,788 tons in 2017. Yellowfin tuna was mainly species followed by bigeye, skipjack and albacore tuna as 85.26 13.57 0.59 and 0.58%, respectively.