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Deep-frozen longline targeting for tropical tuna and frozen longline targeting albacore are the only two fishing gears used by Chinese fleets to catch tuna and tuna-like species in the IOTC waters. The total number of Chinese longline vessels operated in the IOTC waters in 2018 was 85. The number of active deep-frozen longline vessels increased from 71 in 2017 to 75 in 2018. The tropical tunas catch (bigeye and yellowfin tuna) of Chinese longline fleet in 2018 was estimated at 8,697 MT, which was 817 MT higher than that in 2017(7,880MT). The number of frozen longline vessels in 2018 were the same as in 2017. The albacore longline catch for 2017 was estimated at 5,449 MT, higher than in 2017 (3,646 MT). Both the logbook and observer programs are being implemented for the Chinese longline fleets. In 2018, five scientific observers were deployed on board longline vessels to collect data for both targeted and bycatch species as required.
