Analysis of impact of non-entangling FADs on incidental catches in the Indian Ocean Tuna Fishery

This document presents the results of the analysis of catch data from three purse-seiner vessels operating at the Indian Ocean using entangling (mesh surface and hanging open) and non-entangling FADs (mesh surface and hanging attached) to fish tuna. Skip jack (Katsuwonus pelamis) was the main species in the reported captures, but also yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and the bigeye tuna (T. obesus) were target species. Twelve other species, considered as by-catch, were also caught during the fishing operations.
Results showed that fishing on non-entangling FADs was more sustainable than that carried on entangling devices, particularly in relation to the number of sharks and turtles entangled. However, the efficiency of fishing operations done on non-entangling FADs was not different to that reported on traditional ones.