Small-Scale Tuna Seasonality and Fishing Grounds in the Flores Sea
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29244/asfhg981Abstract
The Flores Sea is a tuna fishing area with limited data on the fishery, including vessels, fishing gear, fishing grounds, seasonality, fuel consumption, catch volume, and the size of tuna caught. This study examined and analyzed the fishing grounds of small-scale hand-line tuna fishermen and the size of tuna caught in the Flores Sea following the research methodology described by Ebata. The results showed that the fishing vessels were suitable for catching tuna with hand-line fishing gear and operated throughout the year. The fishing grounds were in tuna habitat and migration routes in the Flores Sea and were influenced by the fishing season. The composition and production volume of the sampled catch (n = 1,210) was dominated by yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) in the length/weight range 34-46.2 cm/1.5-3.9 kg (84.5%, 1,023 fish), followed by larger yellowfin tuna (local name opo') in the length/weight range 61-211 cm/10.5-80 kg (183 fish 15.1%), with big eye tuna (Thunnus obesus) contributing just four fish (0.33%) in the length/weight range 110-189 cm/38.5-58 kg. The catch composition indicates that the yellowfin tuna fishery is likely to be unsustainable, marked by range collapse with a southwards shift towards fishing grounds further from the base in the Flores Sea.
Keywords: Fishing season; Flores sea; length-frequency distribution; small-scale handline; Thunnus albacares.
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