| Resumo: |
The number of purse seiners active in the Western Indian Ocean peaked to an all times high for the first quarter of 1990 ranging from 50 in January to 53 in March. This represents an increase over the same period last year when an average of 48 vessels was in operation. Fishing results were rather poor throughout the first quarter of this year. Catch rates increased only slightly from a low of 8.18 mt/day in December 1989 to 16.7 mt/day in March 1990. The proportion of yellow fin in the catch however increased considerably from 39% in December to 67% in February 1990, with a corresponding decrease in the proportion of skipjack in the catch. This is usual for this time of the years when yellow fin is the predominant species. The fishing pattern was somewhat the same as for the proceeding year with fishing activity concentrated to the East of the Seychelles EEZ. This year however the vessels began to move earlier to the South and South West with a few vessels already fishing in the Mozambique Channel by March. The total catch for purse seiners fishing in the Western Indian Ocean for 1989 was 223,000 mt. As determined from seiner logbooks received by the 31st of March 1990, the cumulative catch by purse seiners in the Western Indian Ocean for the first quarter of 1990 now stands at 46,604 MT.
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