A Snapshot of the Tropical Tuna Purse Seine Large-Scale Fishing ...

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and aggregate FHV, respectively. The Developing:Developed ratio of capacity increased to 1.67:1.0 in vessel numbers. Table 4. Distribution of large-scale tropical tuna purse seiners (mostly targeting tropical tunas) by flag at the end of 2011. The entries represent the number of vessels and their estimated combined FHV. Flag Vessels FHV(m3) Flag Vessels FHV(m3) Flag Vessels FHV(m3) ANT 3 4400 GIN 3 2025 PHL 76 56933 AUS 7 4110 GTM 6 10402 PNG 10 8839 BLZ 7 9308 IDN 41 23703 RUS 7 6121 CHN 12 16258 IRN 8 11660 SLB 5 2147 CIV 1 871 JPN 36 45614 SLV 4 7892 COL 11 12566 KIR 6 9377 SYC 8 18826 CPV 5 4530 KOR 58 69392 THA 4 3950 ECU 69 66711 MEX 40 47145 TUV 1 1937 ESP 40 63974 MHL 10 11376 TWN 34 45448 FRA 36 40386 NIC 6 8722 USA 38 57711 FSM 7 5865 NZL 5 6129 VEN 24 27922 GHA 15 17332 PAN 17 23006 VUT 18 28760 Total 678 781349 Developed 254 332764 Other 424 448585 Oth:Dev 1.67 1.35 4. Discussion Using the information available from the tRFMOs we estimate that, towards the end of 2011, there were 1,664 purse seine vessels authorized to fish for tunas worldwide, with a combined fish hold volume exceeding one million cubic meters. The estimate of the number of vessels is probably of reasonable accuracy. However, the estimate of fishing capacity needs to be viewed with caution because it is largely based on extrapolations. Restricting the list to large-scale vessels, defined here as ≥335 m 3 FHV (approximately 273 tonnes FCC), reduces the number of purse seiners to 854, with a combined FHV of 870 thousand m 3 . Further restricting the list to those large-scale vessels that target tropical tunas (based on the limited information available) brings the number down to 678 vessels with 781,000 m 3 FHV. Interestingly, by trimming down the initial list to only large-scale purse seiners that target tropical tunas, there is a 59% reduction in the number of vessels but only a 24% reduction in the overall fishing capacity as measured by fish hold volume. This is likely due to the fact that the RFMO vessel registers contain many small coastal purse seiners (see Figure 1). Many of these are purse seiners operating in the Atlantic Ocean that catch bluefin tuna occasionally (purse seining for bluefin in the Mediterranean is only allowed for one month each year, and presumably most of these target other non-tuna species during the rest of the year). The number of large-scale purse seiners targeting tropical tunas estimated here (678 vessels) needs to be seen as an approximation. We have made efforts to exclude vessels that do not usually target tropical tunas. However, it is possible that in some RFMOs these vessels could begin to target tropical tunas more actively, depending on their fishing prospects for other species. Hamilton et al. (2011) calculated that there are at least 580 industrial-scale tuna purse seine vessels in the canned tuna industry, based on RFMO registers as of November 2010. This number is lower than the numbers calculated by us for the tropical tuna 10
fishery, 678 purse seiners. This difference is mostly due to differences in defining "industrial-scale" in their paper versus "large-scale" in ours. In their paper, Hamilton et al. (2011) appear to equate "large vessels" with 250 GRT or greater. Based on the relationship between FHV and GRT in Section 3.2.4, this would correspond approximately to 692 m 3 in fish hold volume, which is double the 335 m 3 threshold used by us. Tables 2, 3 and 4 present estimates of numbers of vessels and aggregate FHV by flag. These numbers are likely to change as some vessels re-flag. The number of large-scale purse seine vessels flagged to developing countries is greater than the number flagged to developed countries. For large scale tropical tuna purse seiners, the ratio is about 1.7:1. In interpreting this result, it should be kept in mind that many of the vessels flagged to developing countries may be owned, at least partially, by business interests from developed countries. A more detailed accounting of ownership would require a thorough examination of the records vessel-by-vessel, which was beyond the scope of this study. In putting together the data used for this study, it became evident that the RFMO records of vessels would benefit from greater quality control: Often, the same fields contain conflicting information for vessels that appear in several lists. Also, a lot of information is missing for many vessels, even when the information is mandatory according to the relevant RFMO resolutions. These issues should be tackled before a more detailed study can be conducted. Acknowledgments We are grateful to the following individuals who provided information that helped us compile the various lists: J. Ariz, E. Chassot, M. Goujon, B. Hallman, M. Herrera, M. McGowan, J. Moron-Ayala, W. Norris, A. Perez, J.P. Rodriguez-Sahagun, M. Takase and R. Trujillo. In addition, we are grateful to R. Allen, R. Gillett, K. Matthews, S. Jackson, M. McGowan and J. Moron who commented on earlier drafts of this document. References Gillett, R. and A. Lewis. 2003. A Survey of Purse Seine Fishing Capacity in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, 1988 to 2003. Gillett, Preston and Associates, 59 pages. Hamilton, A., A. Lewis, M.A. McCoy, E. Havice, and L. Campling. 2011. Market and industry dynamics in the global tuna supply chain. Forum Fisheries Agency. ISSF. 2011. Status of the world fisheries for tuna: Management of tuna stocks and fisheries, 2011. ISSF Technical Report 2011-05. International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, McLean, Virginia, USA. Joseph, J. 2003. Managing fishing capacity of the world tuna fleet. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 982. Rome, FAO. Reid C., J.E. Kirkley, D. Squires and J. Ye. 2005. An analysis of the fishing capacity of the global tuna purse-seine fleet. Pages 117-156 In: Bayliff W. H., J.I. de Leiva-Moreno, 11
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