In 1972, the Maldivian fishing fleet had an estimated 

 5,100 fishing boats which included 2,980 trollere and 

 2,100 pole-and-line tuna boats ojjerating within a 46 km 

 radius of the islands. Skipjack tuna, yellowfin tuna, 

 kawakawa, and Auxis are the main species caught by 

 the pole-and-line boats. Hiebert and Alverson (1971) 

 p)ointed out that one of the factors hindering the 

 development of the Maldivian tuna fishery is the 

 limited access of the boats to more distant fishing 

 grounds. Lack of refrigeration also precludes long trips; 

 therefore, the tuna boats leave port for the fishing 

 grounds at about 0300 and return late in the evening. 

 The introduction of motorized, refrigerated boats can 

 probably increase the present fish catch 3-4 times. 



In waters around Sri Lanka, trolling gear was formerly 

 operated from "orus" or outrigger canoes with sails. 

 Nowadays, however, 3- to 5-gross ton motorized boats, 

 manned by a crew of at least three fishermen, are used 

 (Sivasubramaniam 1973). In the Canary Islands where 

 Auxis are landed along with other species of tuna, there 

 are large boats (average 400 gross tons), which have re- 

 frigerated holds and carry about 20 men, and smaller, 

 artisanal fishing boats (average 10 gross tons), which are 

 crewed by 4-5 fishermen, are about 12 m long and have 

 open decks and bait tanks. Propelled by engines that 

 vary in size from 50 to 120 hp, these small boats usually 

 engage in pole-and-line and occasionally purse seine 

 fishing. 



Off Angola, yellowfin and skipjack tunas are the 

 principal species caught by the small, pole-and-line 

 boats, but Auxis are also landed in smaller quantities 

 (De Campos Rosado 1972). These boats, which operate 

 within a narrow strip about 75 km wide and 370 km long 

 along the coast, vary in size from 12 to 20 m long. The 

 Cuban pole-and-line fishery, which lands small 

 amounts of Auxis, operates motorized sailing boats, 

 which have been described as modified sloops with a 

 gaff-rigged mainsail and usually with a flying jib (Rawl- 

 ings 1953; Wise and Jones 1971). 



5.2 Fishing areas 



5.21 General geographic distribution 



Almost all the Auxis caught in the Japan Sea are A. 

 rochei (Okachi 1958). Percentagewise, Okachi deter- 

 mined that of the fishing areas established for Auxis in 

 Japanese waters, the South Pacific region had 62% of 

 the catch, the middle Pacific region 22%, and the Japan 

 Sea and East China Sea regions combined only 12%. 

 Catches from west Japan Sea and East China Sea 

 regions were usually similar whereas catches from the 

 north Japan Sea region were smaller than either one. 



In other areas of the world, Auxis are usually caught 

 as incidental species. In the Pacific, for example, Auxis 

 are caught incidentally in waters around Taiwan, the 

 Philippines, Thailand, West Malaysia, Hawaii, and 

 Australia (Serventy 1941; (josline and Brock 1960; 

 Kume 1973; Philippine Bureau of Fisheries 1973). Small 

 numbers of Auxis are also taken in the Indian Ocean. 



Jones (1967) reported that Auxis are captured along the 

 coasts of India and in waters surrounding the Maldive 

 Islands (Sivasubramaniam footnote 10). According to 

 Sivasubramaniam (1973), Auxis are caught in waters 

 around Sri Lanka on a commercial scale throughout the 

 year in the south and southwest coast of Sri Lanka. 



In the Mediterranean region, the waters around 

 Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Spain, and 

 Yugoslavia are fishing grounds for Auxis. Spanish trap- 

 net fishermen land commercial quantities of Auxis at 

 Barbate on the Atlantic Spanish coast near the Strait of 

 Gibralter, at Tarifa in the middle of the Strait, and at 

 La Linea on the Mediterranean Spanish coast near the 

 entrance of the Strait. Some fishing is also carried on 

 around the Canary Islands (Bas 1967; Cendrero and 

 Garcia-Cabrera 1972). 



Auxis are taken in Moroccan waters mostly by trap 

 fishermen. Traps located at Larache and at Cape 

 Spartel are set primarily to catch bluefin tuna that 

 make their spawning migration toward the Mediterra- 

 nean Sea along the Moroccan coast in April-July. Traps 

 at M'diq in the Mediterranean also capture tuna as they 

 exit after spawning. In traps located along the Atlantic 

 Moroccan coast, Auxis account for only 3% of the tuna 

 landed, but in those situated along the Mediterranean 

 Moroccan coast, they represent 98% of the tuna catch 

 (Lamboeuf 1972). 



Around Portugal, the tuna fishing grounds are along 

 the north and west coasts where small pole-and-line ves- 

 sels operate. Other grounds fished by Portuguese fisher- 

 men are located off the islands of Azores and Madeira 

 where small- to medium-sized pole-and-line vessels 

 operate, and off Angola (De Campos Rosado 1972; Dias 

 and Barraca 1972). Catches of little tunny, bonito, and 

 Auxis represent roughly 60% of the total tuna landings 

 from Angola. 



Off Ghana, in the Gulf of Guinea, there is another 

 fishing ground for Auxis. Although most of the tuna 

 landings at Tema are made by foreign longline, pole- 

 and-line, and purse seine vessels, Ghana's canoes and 

 motorized fishing crafts also account for some of the 

 landings of tuna and tunalike fishes (Di Palma 1968). 



In the western Atlantic, Auxis were previously taken 

 along the east coast of the United States. Pound nets 

 fished along the Middle Atlantic States during the 

 1940's and early 1950's frequently caught Auxis along 

 with bluefin tuna, little tunny, and bonito (Anderson et 

 al. 1953). Southward, the waters around Cuba, off 

 Venezuela, and off Brazil also yield small quantities of 

 Auxis. 



5.22 Geographic ranges 

 See section 5.21. 



5.23 Depth ranges 



Adult A. thazard has been reported to distribute 

 themselves vertically from the surface down to a depth 

 of about 45 m (KisKinouye 1923). 



51 



