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II. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF U.S. AND FOREIGN 

 PARTICIPATION IN THE FISHERY 



1 1. A. Eastern Atlantic Fishery 



Significant United States participation in the Atlantic skipjack 

 tuna fishery began in 1967 with three U.S. tuna purse seiners fishing off 

 Africa. Their success attracted other U.S. seiners to the eastern Atlantic 

 fishery. In 1972, 40 American tuna seiners in the eastern Atlantic fishery 

 caught 12,000 mt of skipjack tuna. Since then American participation has 

 fluctuated between 6 (1980) and 37 vessels (1975). The largest U.S. catch 

 (21,200 mt) was taken in 1973 by 29 purse seiners. The 1980 U.S. catch is 

 projected to be 2,700 mt, 3% of the eastern Atlantic total. The bulk of 

 the skipjack tuna catch in the eastern Atlantic is made by FISM and Tema- 

 based baitboats and FISM seiners. Their catch is expected to account for 

 50% of the 1980 total catch. Spanish purse seiners are expected to catch 

 about 32% of the 1980 total. In recent years, the catches of Angola, 

 Portugal, and the USSR have increased. Two Soviet purse seiners are 

 reported to have fished in the Gulf of Guinea in 1980. 



II.B. Western Atlantic Fishery 



Fishing by U.S. seiners in the western Atlantic has been primarily 

 by seiners transiting between the Gulf of Guinea and Puerto Rico or the 

 eastern tropical Pacific. Since 1975, however, U.S. seiners have spent 

 more time searching for skipjack in the western Atlantic, and have 

 accounted for almost 20% of the total (Figure 3) through 1979. The catches 

 of both Cuba and the U.S., who together took 88% of the total catch, have 

 been relatively constant in recent years (1971-77). These catches have 

 been almost exclusively from the Caribbean. 



A new fishing area off Brazil and Argentina is currently being 

 exploited by Brazilian baitboats. Catches for this area totaled 670 mt in 

 1978. This figure jumped to 1900 mt in 1979 and was projected to be 7000 

 mt for 1980. This new area is quite large and appears to have potential 

 for increased exploitation. 



III. STATUS OF THE STOCKS 



Due to the nature of the fishery (i.e., primarily surface gears 

 exploiting only one young age group), population assessment techniques 

 utilized for other tuna species give inconclusive results for skipjack. 

 The need for further information to assess stock status is emphasized by 

 the International Skipjack Year program currently being coordinated by 

 ICCAT. 



