UTILITY OF FISHERY HIGH SCHOOL DATA IN EXAMINING SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL CATCH AND EFFORT TRENDS IN THE INDONESIAN LONGLINE TUNA FISHERY
Abstract: One of the
endeavours to address the shortage of catch per unit effort (CPUE) information
from the Indonesian Indian Ocean tuna fishery is the collation of a large
amount of catch and effort data collected by Indonesian Fisheries High School
students (“FHS data”). This paper attempts to investigate spatial-temporal
patterns of catch and effort of the FHS data for the main tuna species caught
by the fishery: bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus - BET), yellowfin tuna (T.
albacares - YFT), albacore (T. alalunga - ALB) and southern bluefin tuna
(T.maccoyii - SBT). Reported sets occurred in the Eastern Indian Ocean, north
and south of 20°S. Recorded effort from the FHS data set was concentrated
within the only known SBT spawning ground. However, within this data set, SBT
were recorded in the lowest catch proportion relative to BET, YFT and ALB. The
catch composition data suggested that YFT and ALB were predominantly targeted
by the fishery, with ALB and SBT most predominantly recorded south of 20°S,
whereas BET and YFT were mostly recorded north of 20°S. Unfortunately, there
was no strong information on targeting practices reported by this data set,
limiting any attempts to understand the factors that influenced those results.
As the sampling predominantly occurred in between July and December, the data
are not representative of fishing activities throughout the entire year, and
any seasonal patterns from the FHS data set are biased. In addition, the FHS
data set is prone to observation error and uncertainty in terms of fish
identification and fishing location. Therefore, the FHS data set needs to be
interpreted with caution.
Keywords: Indonesian Fisheries
High School Students Data; longline; Indian Ocean
Author: Lilis Sadiyah, Natalie
Dowling, Budi Iskandar Prisantoso, Retno Andamari, Craig Proctor
Journal Code: jpperikanangg150055
