IATTC Fishery Status Report 8 - Comisión Interamericana del Atún ...

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In early 1990 the U.S. tuna-canning industry adopted a policy of not purchasing tunas caught during trips during which sets on tunas
associated with dolphins were made. This caused many U.S.-flag vessels to leave the EPO, with a consequent reduction in the fleet
to about 117 thousand m 3 in 1992. With increases in participation of vessels of other nations in the fishery, the total well volume
has increased steadily since 1992, and in 2009 was 224 thousand m 3 .
The 2008 and preliminary 2009 data for numbers
and total well volumes of purse-seine and poleand-line
vessels that fished for tunas in the EPO
are shown in Tables A-11a and A-11b. During
2009, the fleet was dominated by vessels operating
under the Ecuadorian and Mexican flags, with
about 27% and 22%, respectively, of the total well
volume; they were followed by Panama (14%),
Venezuela (13%), Colombia (7%), Spain (4%), El
Salvador and Nicaragua (3% each), and
Guatemala, United States, and Vanuatu (2%).
The cumulative capacity at sea during 2009 is
compared to those of the previous five years in
Figure 3.
The monthly average, minimum, and maximum
total well volumes at sea (VAS), in thousands of
Figure 3. Cumulative capacity of the purse-seine and pole-and-line fleet at
sea, by month, 2004-2009
cubic meters, of purse-seine and pole-and-line vessels that fished for tunas in the EPO during 1999-2008, and the 2009 values, are
shown in Table A-12. The monthly values are averages of the VAS estimated at weekly intervals by the IATTC staff. The fishery
was regulated during some or all of the last four months of 1998-2009, so the VAS values for September-December 2009 are not
comparable to the average VAS values for those months of 1998-2008. The average VAS values for 1999-2008 and 2009 were 125
thousand m 3 (61% of total capacity) and 137 thousand m 3 (61% of total capacity), respectively.
3.2. Other fleets of the EPO
Information on other types of vessels that fish for tunas in the EPO is available on the IATTC‘s Regional Vessel Register, on the
IATTC web site. The Register is incomplete for small vessels. In some cases, particularly for large longline vessels, the Register
contains information for vessels authorized to fish not only in the EPO, but also in other oceans, and which may not have fished in
the EPO during 2009, or ever.