| Distant water fishing nations (DWFN) began longlining for tuna in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) in the early 1950s, initiated by the Japanese soon followed by the Taiwanese (1954) and Koreans (1960). Large scale industrial purse seining began in 1983 when the French and Spanish fleets moved into the Western Indian Ocean from the tropical Atlantic. By 1986 some 6 % of the world tuna catch (143,099t out of 2,400,000t) was coming from the WIO purse seiners; by 1997 this had risen to 14 %. Virtually all the purse seiners active in the WIO are licensed to fish in the Seychelles EEZ; SFA's data therefore reflect the entire WIO purse seine catch (based upon daily catch and effort reports or logbooks which must be provided to SFA by all licensed vessels). At... |
