Pacific Tuna Tagging Project, Phase 2 (Central Pacific) cruise CP-10: 1st to 25th August 2014 Summary report

The Central Pacific (CP) tagging cruises are part of the Pacific Tuna Tagging Programme (PTTP) that
started in August 2006 with the objective of tag and release of tropical tunas throughout the WCPO and
concentrated in the latitudes where the tuna stocks are mostly harvested, approximately between 10⁰
N and 10⁰ S. These CP cruises were designed to catch and tag tuna in areas where pole-and-line fishing
gear is not efficient due to the absence of suitable bait grounds. Using specific trolling gears developed
in Hawaii and targeting the NOAA TAO oceanographic buoys anchored east of the Date Line, the CP
tagging cruises have improved the overall spatial coverage of the PTTP tag releases and increased the
number of tagged bigeye tuna that are not commonly caught by pole-and-line gear in the western part
of the WCPO.
Nine CP cruises have already been achieved, using Hawaii and Tonga-based fishing vessels; these have
tagged and released other 37,000 tuna, mostly bigeye (90%), on the TAO buoys anchored along the
meridians 140⁰W, 155⁰W, 170⁰W and 180⁰W and between 5⁰N and 5⁰S latitudes.
This report summarizes activities during a tenth CP cruise, named hereafter CP-10, during a 25 day
cruise on the Tonga-based FV Pacific Sunrise. This longliner was chartered during CP-5, CP-6, CP-8 and
CP-9 to extend tag release coverage westward from the preceding Hawai’i based CP cruises, targeting
the TAO buoys deployed along the 170⁰ and 180⁰ W meridians.