| Resumo: |
The number of purse seiners active in the Western Indian Ocean during the first quarter of 1988 dropped from 39 in January to 35 in March, compared to 41 at the end of 1987. Nevertheless, this represents an increase in the number of vessels over the same period of the previous year when there were 33 vessels. The year commenced with record catch rates of 19 MT/day for this quarter. As experienced in the previous year, yellow fin catch rates improved only as from January, representing 66% of the catch in January and increasing 79% in March. The catch rate for March averaged 22.7 MT/day, the highest catch rate ever recorded during this period for this fishery. The total catch by purse seiners in the Western Indian Ocean for 1987 has been estimated at 163,000 tones. As determined from purse seiner logbooks received by the 31st of March 1988, the cumulative catch for the first quarter of 1988 stands at 39,000 tones.
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