Status of catch and effort for albacore tuna by Malaysian Tuna Longliners in the Indian Ocean (2013- 2017)

Malaysia tuna fisheries began with tropical tuna fishing in 2005 to 2011 before shifted to albacore tuna fishing in 2012. Currently, a total of 19 Malaysia tuna longline fishing vessels and 1 carrier are operated in the Indian Ocean. The Malaysia tuna longliners fishing activities covered the area from 10oS in the north to 39oS and longitude from 40oE to 70oE. This paper describes the detail on fishing characteristics of Malaysia tuna longliners, which emphasize on catch and CPUE trends for albacore tuna in southwest of Indian Ocean from 2013 to 2017. All the data described in this paper was based on the data extracted from fishing logbooks which were sent by vessel’s owner to Department of Fisheries Malaysia. In 2017, the total catch of albacore increased significantly by 17% to 1, 607 tons from 1,330 tons in 2016. Catches of albacore tuna by Malaysia tuna fishing vessels ranged from 2.74-281.69 tons with average of 93.79 + 66.07 tons. The average monthly catches for 5 years showed that there were two peaks seasons for albacore fishing; from May- August and October – January.