and bullet tunas from Taiwan for 1961-68. Examination 

 of the catch statistics from Taiwan for 1958-63 (FAO 

 1964) showed catches to be rather high. In 1961-63, for 

 example, they were as follows: 



Year Catch (1,000 metric tons) 



1961 11.9 



1962 18.2 



1963 15.1 



But in FAO (1967), the frigate and bullet tuna catches 

 in l%l-63 were given as follows: 



Year Catch (1,000 metric tons) 



1961 0.7 



1962 0.8 



1963 0.6 



Further research into the method of compiling catch 

 statistics indicated that data from FAO (1964) included 

 other species under frigate and bullet tunas. Kume 

 (1973) revealed that Taiwan uses a categroy called 

 "bonito" in which are included Auxis as well as kawa- 

 kawa and perhaps other small tunas. Kume gave the 

 "bonito" catch for 1970 as 15,500 t but estimated that of 

 this total, only 778 t or roughly 5% were Auxis. Further- 

 more, the frigate and bullet tuna catches in 1961-63, as 

 given in FAO (1967), amounts to only 4-6% of the 

 catches as given in FAO (1964). Therefore, it can be 

 presumed that roughly 5% of the catches of frigate and 

 bullet tunas in Taiwan, as given in FAO (1964), are ac- 

 tually of this species with the remainder constituting 

 catches of other small tunas. 



Southward, in the South China Sea region, the Philip- 

 pines, Sabah, Sarawak, Thailand, and West Malaysia 

 also harvest Auxis. In the Philippines, catches of Auxis 

 in 1964-76 varied from 5,000 t in 1974 to 19,500 t in 1968 

 and averaged 11,700 t (Table 26). The Thailand 

 landings of Auxis, Euthynnus affinis, and Thunnus 

 tonggol are combined and called "bonito" or "pla o" 

 locally in the catch statistics (Kume 1973). In 1971, Thai 

 and Chinese seiners landed 5,090 t or 78% of the 6,548 t 

 of "bonito" reportedly caught in Thailand. In West 

 Malaysia, landings of Auxis are also combined with 

 those of E. affinis and T. tonggol. The 1958-71 produc- 

 tion of these three species combined varied between 789 

 t in 1959 and 5,578 t in 1967 and averaged 3,131 t an- 

 nually. Table 26 shows that the catches of Auxis from 

 China mainland varied from 2,400 to 5,300 t in 1964-71 

 and averaged 3,700 t. 



Indian Ocean 



In addition to E. affinis and T. Tonggol, which are the 

 two most common tuna species landed from Indian 

 waters, small numbers of Auxis are also captured in the 

 tuna fishery along the coast of India (Jones 1967). Of the 

 two species, A. thazard are more common whereas A. 



rochei are rarely seen in the commercial catch. Thomas 

 (1967) reported that Auxis are taken in the Laccadive 

 Islands, but catches are usually recorded in the 

 category, "other fishes," which includes E. affinis, 

 Acanthocybium solandri, Istiophorus gladius, Elagatis 

 bipinnulatus. Caranx sp., Chorinemus sp., and sharks. 

 Sivasubramaniam" estimated that Auxi.s catches in In- 

 dia account for about 5% of the tuna and tunalike 

 catches. It is also apparent from the data that the west 

 coast of India usually yields Auxis catches that are 

 about 5 times more than those from the east coast. In 

 1964-73, India's Auxis catches varied between 200 and 

 7,900 t and averaged 2,100 t annually (Table 26). 



The tuna fishery in the Maldives is carried out by sail- 

 ing boats; therefore, fluctuations in the catches are asso- 

 ciated with various environmental conditions such as 

 wind direction and velocity and ocean surface currents. 

 In 1964-76, the catches of Auxis from the Maldives fluc- 

 tuated between 1,500 t in 1964 and 6,200 t in 1973 and 

 averaged 3,200 t annually (Table 26.) There are, how- 

 ever, serious discrepancies in the catch statistics. For 

 1970 and 1971, for example, Sivasubramaniam (see foot- 

 note 11) gave the catch of Auxis from the Maldives as 

 1,700 and 1,800 t, respectively. Data from a tuna can- 

 ning plant project, however, indicate catches of 3,094 t 

 in 1970 and 26,871 t in 1971. Based on landings in 1965- 

 69 and in 1972-73, it appears that the 1971 catch of 

 26,871 t is unreasonably high. Furthermore, FAO (1974) 

 estimated the 1970 frigate and bullet tuna catch to be 

 20,000 t and the 1971 catch as 26,900 t, also un- 

 reasonably high; therefore, until these discrepancies can 

 be resolved, data from Sivasubramaniam (see footnote 

 11) will be accepted provisionally. 



In waters around Sri Lanka, Auxis are caught on a 

 commercial scale from all the main fishing grounds 

 (Sivasubramaniam 1973). Being the smallest member of 

 the tuna and tunalike fishes, Auxis contribute only 15- 

 20'r to the total catch, by weight, but are the most 

 abundant of all the tuna varieties in the waters around 

 Sri Lanka. Sivasubramaniam reported that although 

 both species appear in the commercial catches, A. 

 thazard contributes 92% and A. rochei 8% to the total 

 annual production. In 1964-73, Sri Lanka's production 

 of frigate and bullet tunas ranged between 3,200 and 

 5,.500 t and averaged 4,500 t annually (Table 26). Per- 

 centagewise, they constituted more than a third of the 

 catch of tuna and tunalike fishes from Sri Lanka in 

 1964-67. The proportion fell to about a fourth in 1968-69, 

 one fifth in 1970, and has been about one-sixth of the 

 total production since 1971. 



Other countries that harvest Auxis in the Indian 

 Ocean include Bangladesh, Pakistan, Reunion Island, 

 and Tanzania. Table 26 shows that in 1964-72, Auxis 

 catches in Bangladesh fluctuated between 100 and 800 t 

 and averaged 400 t. In Pakistan, catches in 1964-73 



"Sivasubramaniam, K. 1974. More recent information on the tuna 

 fisher>' in Sri Lanka, India and the Maldive Islands. Indo-Pacific Fish- 

 ery Council/Indian Ocean Fishery Commission Ad Hoc Working Group, 

 .\antes. France, 16-18 September 1974. (Il'FC/IOFCAVPU4/12, 4 p. 



55 



