An overview of historical changes in the fishing gear and practices of pelagic longliners

We identify changes in pelagic longline fishing gear and practices that need to be accounted for in stock assessments. Pelagic longline fishers have continuously modified their fishing gear and practices to improve fishing power and catchability, which has altered the relationship between catch rates and abundance. Advances in technology resulted in the introduction of many electronic devices to assist in navigation, communication and finding target species. The development of synthetic materials allowed improvements to lines and hooks that increased the probability of hooking target species and landing them. Other changes increased fishing power by improving searching efficiency (e.g., satellite imagery) or the time spent on fishing grounds (e.g., freezers). The number of hooks deployed in daily longlining operations has steadily increased since 1950. However, mean soak time did not change significantly because faster longline retrieval and deployment speeds balanced the increased hook numbers. There has been a shift from having all baits available at dawn, to having more available at dusk and at night. In the 1970s, several longline fleets began to exploit a much greater depth range, resulting in increased catchability for deep-dwelling species (e.g., bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus) and reduced catchability for epipelagic species like blue marlin (Makaira nigricans). Research has been mostly limited to the effects of longline depth on the catchability of target species. Recent experiments have quantified the effects of bycatch mitigation measures on fishing power and catchability. Progressive improvements in expertise and technological improvements in the gear will also affect fishing power, but are particularly difficult to quantify