The western Indian Ocean tuna fishery from 1980 to 1985: a summary of data collected by coastal states

Longliner and purse-seiner catch/effort statistics for tuna fisheries in the western Indian Ocean collected by Mozambique, Seychelles and Somalia are summarized. Although the data are not considered sufficient to indicate trends for the western Indian Ocean as a whole, an examination of data from the Seychelles EEZ shows that catch rates for yellowfin tuna declined consistently from 1982 to 1985, to about half their former levels. The data were processed by the FAO/Indo Pacific Tuna Development and Management Programme, Colombo, Sri Lanka.