Statistics of French purse seine fishing fleet targeting tropical tunas in the Indian Ocean

French purse seiners operating in the Indian Ocean target yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), skipjack (Kat- suwonus pelamis), and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) through two major fishing modes that result in different species and size composition of the catch: fish aggregating device-associated (FAD) and free- swimming schools (FSC). Statistical data for the French purse seine fishing fleet have been collected by the “Institut de Recherche pour le D ́eveloppement” (IRD) in collaboration with the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) since the arrival of the first purse seiners in the Indian Ocean in the early 1980s. The fleet activities are described through a suite of fisheries indicators that provide information on fishing capacity, effort, catch, and catch rates for the principal market tropical tunas, with a particular focus on the year 2012.