| There were about 341 deep-sea longliners operating in the Indian Ocean (small longliners operating in the northeast Indian Ocean were not included) in 1999, about the same level to 1998. The total catch made by these longliners was roughly estimated as 99,000 MT, a decrease of about 11,000 MT from 1998. The drop of yellowfin tuna by 5,700 MT was the main cause, followed by decreases of bigeye tuna by 2,600 MT and swordfish by 2,100 MT. This decrease in catch might be due to the unfavorable fishing condition around the traditional fishing grounds in the Indian Ocean. In general, the total catch of tunas and billfishes was around 93,000-110,000 MT from 1992 to the present except the relatively high catch in 1993. 'Research Group' Overseas Fisheries... |
