Nominal catch of tropical tunas by artisanal and industrial fishery in the IOTC area of competence

Nominal catch data publicly available in the IOTC website was analysed to study the tropical tuna
(yellowfin, skipjack and bigeye tuna) catch by artisanal and industrial tuna fishery of the Indian
Ocean. The nominal catch during 1950-2019 indicates that, of the three species of tropical tunas,
skipjack (44.14%) is caught in higher proportions, followed by yellowfin (41.75%) and bigeye
(14.14%). In 2019, 66.21% of the total tropical tuna catch was by industrial fishery, whereas the
contribution of artisanal fishery to the total nominal catch of Indian Ocean tropical tuna fishery
was only 33.79%. The yellowfin caught by industrial fishery in 2019 was 2,55,356 t, against
1,99,533 t caught during 2014, whereas yellowfin catch (2019) by artisanal fishery was 1,90,271
t, against 2,04,022 t caught during 2014, indicating thatin the year 2019, the industrial tuna
fishery increased their yellowfin catch by 28% than 2014, whereas the catch by artisanal fishery
had decreased by 6.74%. More than 72% of the total Indian Ocean skipjack are caught by
industrial fleet, while the remaining 28% by artisanal fleet. From the year 2014 onwards, there
was a phenomenal growth in the skipjack catch by industrial fleet. This fishery increased the
skipjack catch by 138.68% with reference to skipjack catch by the industrial fishery in 2014,
whereas at the same period the artisanal fishery registered negative growth by 33.41%.