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The fishing period for under comparison was July to November in 2016 and the same period in 2017. Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) were the main target pelagic species caught by a Kenyan longliner in the Kenyan EEZ during the year 2016 representing 25.6% and 18.4% of the catches respectively. In the high seas, the main catches were albacore and yellowfin tuna representing 27.8% and 17.8% of the total catch. Although the species caught in both areas were similar, blue sharks were caught in Kenyan EEZ while in the high seas the reported catches were of tiger sharks. The average deepest hook depth was 349m, 341m and 313m for the bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna and albacore respectively in the high seas while the depth of 276 m and 203 m for bigeye and yellowfin tuna respectively was noted in the Kenyan EEZ. A look at the temporal distribution of the catches showed the albacore were more dominant in August and September while yellowfin and bigeye were more dominant in October and November respectively in the high seas. In the EEZ, bigeye tuna dominated in September while the yellowfin tuna was more dominant in July and November. The average weights of Bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna were 49.2 ± 7.3 kgs and 44.2 ± 13.7 kgs respectively for the EEZ catches while the average weights of albacore, bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna in the high seas were 17.7 ± 4.5 kgs, 36.1 ± 16.6 kgs and 30.5 ± 10.8 kgs respectively.
