(a complex multi-boat seine) of south- 

 em France (Doumenge 1953) and the 

 "cianciolo" (a modified seine) of Sic- 

 ily (de Gaetani 1948), have been used 

 locally, and generally on a small 

 scale. 



Since World War II, great 

 changes have occurred in the Allan- 

 tic and Mediterranean bluefin fisher- 

 ies through the mtroduction of three 

 much more productive methods: live- 

 bait, pelagic longline, and purse seine 

 In addition some fisheries using the 

 older methods were initiated or ex- 

 panded. 



The traditional trolling fishery 

 for small bluefin and albacore, 

 Thunnus a lalunga (BonnaievTC 1788), 

 in the Bay of Biscay was largely con- 

 verted to the much more productive 

 live-bait method between 1947 and 

 1949 (Navaz 1950a, 1950b, de la 

 Tourrasse 1951) The French catches 

 increased from 600 tons in 1948 to 

 from 1 ,900 to 3,500 tons per year in 

 1950-1959 In 1960-1970, however, 

 they declined to between 400 and 

 1 ,600 tons, exceeding 1 ,000 tons only 

 once (Aloncle 1972). The 1970 and 

 1 97 1 catches were also below 1 ,000 

 tons (Bard et al. 1972) The live-bait 

 method has also come into use in the 

 fishery for small bluefin off the At- 

 lantic coast of Morocco (Lamboeuf 

 1972). 



The highly effective purse seine 

 method has also been widely intro- 

 duced in the Atlantic and the Medi- 

 terranean. The first important step 

 was the development of a seine fish- 

 ery for medium sized and giant blue- 

 fin off Norway in the late 1940s fhe 

 annual Norwegian bluefin catches 

 increased from a few hundred tons in 

 the middle 1940s to about 10,000 

 tons in the middle 1950s (Hamrc 

 1971). Catches declined greatly after 

 1952, varying from 200 to 2,500 tons 

 per year in 1963-1971, collapsing to 

 about 100 tons in 1972 and 1973, 

 and rising to 800 tons in 1974 

 (Miyake and Tibbo 1972, Miyake and 

 Manning 1975). 



A handline fishery for giant blue- 

 fin tuna in the North Sea was origi- 

 nated by German and Danish fisher- 



men in 1950. Catches peaked at 2,400 

 tons in 1952 and amounted to 1,800 

 tons in 1959 (Tiews 1975) Thus two 

 virtually new fisheries began to take 

 great quantities of large bluefin in 

 the northeastern Atlantic at the same 

 time that the only important fishery 

 in the area for small bluefin, in the 

 Bay of Biscay, greatly increased its 

 catches by adopting the live bait 

 method The German handline 

 catches declined to 200 tons by 1962 

 and the fishery was abandoned after 

 the 1963 and 1964 seasons produced 

 only one fish each 



Purse seining for bluefin tuna 

 also became widespread in the 

 Mediterranean. Yugoslavian fisher- 

 men evidently introduced the method 

 in the Adriatic in 1929 (Tilic 1954) 

 Joined later by Italian fishermen, they 

 have seined small bluefin extensively 

 in the Adriatic (Scaccini and Bian- 

 calana 1959, Morovic 1961) Sein- 

 ing of small bluefin has also been 

 carried out by Italian fishermen in 

 the Tyrrhenian and Ligunan Seas, 

 but with less modem equipment Very 

 small bluefin arc seined by sardine 

 boats with "cianciolo" In 1972 Ital- 

 ian fishermen began to take consid- 

 erable quantities of giant spawning 

 bluefin in the Tyrrhenian Sea and the 

 Sicilian channel with large modem 

 purse seiners (I'aini 1975) 



The seining of bluefin tuna off 

 the Mediterranean coast of France 

 was authorized in 1960 and devel- 

 oped rapidly (di Meglio 1962). Sar- 

 dine boats occasionally seine bluefin 

 tuna, including extremely small ones, 

 off the Mediterranean coasts of Mo- 

 rocco and Spain (Rodrigucz-Roda 

 1964a, 1964b) Small bluefin tuna 

 are also seined otV the Atlantic coast 

 of Morocco (Aloncle 1964, 

 Lamboeuf 1972) by .sardine vessels, 

 sometimes with the assistance of 

 chumming by live-bait boats 



Purse seine fishing for bluefin 

 tuna, practiced in Cape Cod Ray by 

 only one or two very small vessels in 

 1958-1961 (Squire" 1959), expanded 

 to an oceanic fishery ranging from 

 Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to 



Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1962 

 (Wilson 1965) The catch of small 

 bluefin rose to 5,600 tons in 1964, 

 along with an almost equal quantity 

 of skipjack tuna, Katsuwnnus pelumis 

 (Linnaeus 1758). The largest fleet in 

 the history of the fishery, 2 1 vessels, 

 including some of the world's larg- 

 est, was responsible for this catch. 

 Subsequent annual catches have var- 

 ied considerably between a low of 

 600 tons in 1966 and a high of 3,600 

 tons m 1 97 1 



The Japanese longline fishery en- 

 tered the Atlantic in 1956, and subse- 

 quent expansion was rapid (Shiohama 

 et al. 1965). By 1962, most of the 

 ocean between latitudes 25°N and 

 25°S was being fished by Japanese 

 longliners In 1969, the fishery had 

 expanded so that most of the waters 

 between 40°N and 40°S were being 

 fished (Wise and Davis 1973). The 

 catches of bluefin tuna were small 

 (less than 7,000 fish per year) in 1956- 

 1961, but increased to 53,000 to 

 67,000 fish per year in 1962-1965. 

 They then declined to less than 1 ,000 

 per year in 1969 and 1970. The 1971 

 catch was 8,000 fish, however, and 

 tlie catch had risen to about 46,000 

 fish by 1974 (Fisheries Agency of 

 Japan 1 976). This was due mainly to 

 the entry of the fishery into areas 

 which had formerly been unexploitcd, 

 or exploited only by inshore gears — 

 the oceanic eastern Atlantic, the Bay 

 of Biscay, the Ibero-Moroccan Gulf 

 and the Mediterranean 



Japanese longliners entered the 

 bluefin tuna fishery in the Bay of 

 Biscay in 1974, reportedly affecting 

 the operations of the local Spamsh 

 fleet (Cort and Cendrero 1975). Their 

 catches in the area in that year to- 

 talled about 11,215 fish (Fisheries 

 Agency of Japan 1976). 



Japanese longliners entered the 

 Mediterranean in 1972 Their total 

 catch that year included 1 12 tons of 

 Atlantic bluefin tuna. This increased 

 to 246 tons m 1973 and 2,1 95 tons in 

 1974 (Miyake and Manning 1975). 

 Much of this catch was taken in the 

 vicinity of Sicily in June and July, 

 during the spawning sea.son (Shingu 

 et al. 1975, Shingu and Hisada 1976, 

 Fisheries Agency of Japan 1975, 

 1 976) 1 he concentration of longlines 

 around Sicily reportedly made it al- 



17 



