Tabic 8 Catch rates (numbers of fish per 1 ,0()0 hooks) for bluefin tuna of the Japiincsc Atlantic longhnc fishciy, 1 956-7 1 , 

 by year and area The BEN and RIO areas arc not included since it is believed that the bluclin caught in them were 

 predominantly southern bluefin. Note: 0.00 = O.005 but > 0, U = effort but no catch, - = no effort 



vessel (Anonymous 1963) In the 

 same period, six bluefin tuna were 

 observed among the landings of the 

 local fishery at Ponta Deigada, and 

 all of these were also giants (obser- 

 vations by Dr B B. CoIIette, Dr. D 

 de Sylva, and F J. Mather). 



b. Madeira 



The numbers of bluefin tuna sold 

 in the market in Funchal, Madeira, in 

 the years 1954-1962 were furnished 

 by J. Maul (personal communication) 

 These ranged fi^om six to 268 fish per 

 year, averaging 104. The most nu- 

 merous landings were in March-June 

 and in October, with the least in No- 

 vember-January. Catches of other tu- 

 nas, notably bigeye, were much more 

 numerous. Maul has stated that the 

 bluefin is relatively low in abundance 

 off Madeira, and that the catches are 



from two size groups: 6-7 kg, and 

 1 50-200 kg (Aloncle 1966) 



c. Canary I.slands 



Early inlbrmation (Frade 1929) 

 indicated that T. ihynnus thynnus was 

 rather rare at the Canary Islands, but 

 more recent developments indicate 

 that the .species may occur there in 

 considerable numbers, and in vari- 

 ous sizes Aloncle (1964) reported a 

 wintering area for small and young 

 adult bluefin tuna (0.5-60 kg) be- 

 tween Lanzerote, one of the eastern- 

 most of the Canaries, and the Moroc- 

 can coast fhe senior author directed 

 the tagging of four 45 cm (age 0) fi.sh 

 oil Gran Canaria in December 1974 

 Catches of large bluefin tuna ha\c 

 been made by sport fishermen off 

 ■fenerife m the Canaiy Islands, where 

 the "European ' record was broken 



twice in two years, with 374 kg and 

 392 kg fish (Anonymous 1975,1 976). 

 Several additional catches of large 

 bluefin, off Gran Canaria, were re- 

 ported by C H. Roncoroni (personal 

 communications) It appears that most 

 of these giants were taken in laic fall 

 and winter (L F. de Gamboa, per- 

 sonal communication). The distribu- 

 tion of Japanese winter (January- 

 March) longline catches in 1974 

 (Fisheries Agency of Japan 1976) in- 

 dicates that the Canary Islands are in 

 a wintering area for bluefin tuna. 



Santos (1 976, 1977a, 1977b) has 

 provided the first detailed informa- 

 tion on commercial catches of blue- 

 fin tuna in the Canary Islands The 

 1975 landings, excluding longline 

 catches, were 932 metric tons. 

 Catches and catch per unit of effort 

 were greatest in the period June-No- 



35 



