varied from 1,000 to 5,600 1 and averaged 2,900 1 annual- 

 ly. Catches from the Reunion Island, recorded for 1970- 

 72, are relatively small, varying between 100 and 200 t 

 and an annual average of about 200 t. Tanzania landed 

 400 t in 1971 and 600 t in 1972 and averaged 500 t for 

 these 2 years. 



Atlantic Ocean 



In the Atlantic, Spain, which annually lands about 

 3,500 t of Auxis, exploits mackerel. Scomber scombrus; 

 bluefin tuna; bonito, Sarda sarda; and occasionally 

 albacore along the Mediterranian Spanish coast (Bas 

 1967). Mackerel are caught by ring net and trawl; blue- 

 fin tuna, bonito, and Auxis are caught occasionally by 

 very large ring nets. The annual production of Auxis by 

 large ring nets is small, ranging between 274 and 2,500 1. 

 The most important gear is the trap. At Barbate, A. 

 rochei appear in the traps in May-July and catches 

 average 15.6 t but larger catches usually occur in May- 

 June (Rodriguez-Roda 1966). Little tunny and bonito 

 are also taken at Barbate, but A. rochei predominate, 

 accounting for about 53% of the production. The traps 

 at La Linea make the largest catches of these small 

 tunas with A. rochei constituting about 97'~c of the 

 catches (216 t). At Tarifa, 95'~'c of the catch is A. rochei 

 and production averages about 67.1 t. The annual 

 catches of A. rochei by traps throughout Spain vary 

 widely. Catches at Barbate in some years are very low 

 and fall below 2,000 fish/yr but in other years they may 

 be very high. Table 26 gives the annual production of 

 Auxis in Spain and Table 27 gives a partial breakdown 

 of the catches by type ot gear. In 1953-76, the annual 



landings varied from 500 to 10,000 1 and averaged 3,100 1 

 (Rt>driguez-Roda 1966, 1967). 



Auxis are taken in Moroccan waters mostly by trap 

 fishermen, but surface gear is also employed (Table 27). 

 Lamboeuf (1972) stated that both bait boats and seiners 

 operate as a team in fishing. The bait boat, which is 

 usually an old, low tonnage sardine boat converted to 

 carry bait, chums fish to the surface and keeps them 

 there long enough for the seiner to set the net around the 

 school. Lacking such a bait boat frequently results in an 

 unsuccessful purse seine set. Along the Atlantic Moroc- 

 can coast, boats landed 69% of the Auxis whereas traps 

 contributed less than half or 31% (Lamboeuf 1973). 

 Along the Mediterranean Moroccan coast, however, 

 traps contributed 91% of the Auxis landed with the 

 remaining 9% produced by boats. In 1953-76, the annual 

 catches of Auxis fluctuated between 100 and 4,000 1 and 

 averaged 1,400 t (Table 26). Auxis landings in Morocco 

 rose from about 15% to 20%; of the total tuna landings in 

 1963-65, fell to about 12% in 1966, then rose steadily to 

 about 27^0 of the total catch in 1969 (Lamboeuf 1972). 

 The change in the relative importance of Auxis in the 

 total tuna landings resulted from a very sharp decline in 

 bluefin tuna landings in Morocco. It should be noted 

 that slight discrepancies exist in the catch data for 

 Auxis; only 200 t in Table 26 versus a 1969 catch of 588 1, 

 according to Lamboeuf (1972). 



In Portugal, traps, which are the principal tuna-fish- 

 ing gear, are usually fished off the southern coast where- 

 as pole-and-line boats operate along the north and west 

 coasts and off the islands of Azores and Madeira (Dias 

 and Barraca 1972). In the Portuguese overseas province 

 of Angola where the yield of tuna is much higher, the 

 fishery is carried on by small, pole-and-line boats (De 



Table 27.— Annual catches o( Auxis (in units of 1.000 metric tons) In the Atlantic Ocean, by country and type of gear. 1960-74 



'Data for 1960-62 from Miyake and Tibbo (see footnote 1 in Table 26); for 1963-73 from Miyake et al. (see text footnoU 13); 

 from Miyake (personal communication with R. S. Shomura. Southwest Fish. Cent.. Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., Honolulu, HI 

 ^Catch in 1960 includes bonito. 

 'Catches in 1960 and 1961 include a small amount of little tunny. 



for 1974 

 96812). 



56 



