Development of the Fish Aggregating Devices Fishery in Mauritius
1 : Tuna/FAD 2011
* : Corresponding author
Ministry of Fisheries and Rodrigues
Tahiti -
Maurice
The Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) fishery was introduced in 1985 with the aim to relocate the artisanal fishermen from the heavily exploited lagoon areas to the open sea, with a view to increasing their catch and concurrently reducing fishing pressure in the lagoon.The Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) designed in Mauritius is composed of reinforced plastic floats mounted on two strings of polyamide rope and moored to the sea bed with polypropylene rope. 27 FADs have been set around the island at distances of 3 to 10 nm from the shore and at depth ranging from 400 to 3 000 m. The main species caught around FADs are tuna, dolphinfish, wahoo and skipjack. The common fishing techniques are trolling, handlining, vertical longlining and the drift line. Some 400 registered lagoon fishermen supported by an appropriate training program have successfully been redeployed to the FAD fishery. A sample-based data collection system is in place since 2008. Landing from the FAD fishery is estimated to some 300 tons. The catch per fisherman day is 27 kg which is much higher compared to the catch of 5 kg from the lagoon.
| Subject : | : | oral |
| Language of text | : | English |
| Topics | : | 1- Artisanal Fisheries and moored FAD programs |
| Keywords | : | FAD Development ; fishing technique |
| PDF version | : |  PDF version |
