Analysis of catch and effort data of tropical tuna from purse seine and longline fishery in Mauritius (2014-2018)

^{Catch and effort data obtained from fishing logbooks of the purse seine and longline fisheries were analysed from 2014-2018. It could be observed that there was an increasing trend in the catch of the national purse seiners from 8557t in 2014 to 22405t in 2018. This trend is mainly due to an increase in the fishing effort. The fishing effort was high in 2014 as the active fleet number recorded was highest with a total of 7 purse seiners.  The catch composition showed a remarkable increase for yellowfin tuna when compared to skipjack and bigeye tuna. Yellowfin tuna was the dominant species (52.3%), followed by skipjack (39.2%) and bigeye tuna (8.0%). Majority of the catch was made on log school (64.7%) compared to that effected on free school (35.3%). The percentage catch of yellowfin tuna in free school was higher (81.1%) than in log school (36.5%). The spatial distribution for log school was spread between latitudes 14 degree North to 15 degree South. Whereas fishing on free school was effected between latitudes 7 degree North to 14 degree South. From the landings and fishing logbooks of local surface longliners (semi-industrial fishing boats), it was observed that there was a rise in the catch of tropical tuna (yellowfin and big eye) from 2014 to 2017 though a decrease was noted in 2018.  The overall percentage of Yellowfin and bigeye tuna landed was 29.4 % and 12.4 % respectively. An analysis of the catch data of foreign licensed longliners for the past five years revealed an increasing trend in the catch of yellowfin and bigeye tuna from 13.7% in 2014 to 34.2% in 2018 though these vessels targeted mainly albacore tuna. The average CPUE (kg/hooks) ranged between 0.3 and 0.4 during the past five years.}