According to a regional fishing official illegal fishing estimated to be about 10 to 15 percent of the region’s total catch, illegal and unreported fishing disrupts the tuna trade, worth tens of millions of dollars every year. There are few patrol vessels in the region which struggle to intercept the hundreds of small boats, mainly from Taiwan and Indonesia, which spread out across the enormous ocean to catch the precious tuna.
David Ardill, from the inter-governmental Indian Ocean Commission, opined that the main problem with IUU (illegal, unregulated, and unreported) fishing in terms of tuna stocks is the fact that we simply don’t know how much fish is being taken. He said that it is steadily increasing problem in this part of the ocean. He further said that the waters around Mauritius, Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, and Reunion, countries which make up the commission.
It is said that small-scale fishing accounts for about half the tuna caught in the ocean, the second largest fishery after the Pacific. Ardill, who manages a pilot project to monitor tuna fisheries, explained that port inspections will play an increasingly major role in the crackdown, with authorities checking boats, documents and even cargoes. Authorities in the region are also contemplating to use the radar, and satellite pictures from the European Space agency, to check for unregistered fishing boats.
According to Ardill the management advice is to limit fishing at current levels or to bring it back to (the levels of) 2 or 3 years back. He added that Indonesia, Iran, France, Spain, and Maldives catch the most tuna, but Taiwan catches by far the highest value.
