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- Changes in catches and fishing strategies related to the Individual Vessel Threshold (IVT) program
- Objectives
- Evaluate impacts of the IVT program on catches of tropical tunas
Evaluate changes in fishing strategies potentially relating to the IVT program
- Background
- Resolution C-21-04 established an Individual Vessel Threshold (IVT) program which imposes additional days of closure to fishing vessels as a function of the extent to which individual vessels exceed specified thresholds of bigeye tuna catch. The purpose of this project is to examine what effects the IVT program has had on the dynamics of the fishing fleet, specifically the volume and relative proportion of catch of the tropical tuna species and the employed fishing strategies.
- Relevance for management
- This project will contribute to our overall understanding of the fleet dynamics of the tropical tuna fisheries. In particular, it will advance our understanding of the effects of the implemented management measures and the mechanisms behind recent changes in the volume of catch of the tropical tuna species, and the extent to which responses to the IVT program may or may not explain shifts in the species composition of the purse seine fleet catches.
- Duration
- 12 months
- Workplan and status
- Examine evidence for changes in total catch of tropical tunas related to the IVT program.
Examine evidence for changes in probability of capture of bigeye related to the IVT program. Examine whether there is evidence of vessels switching from bigeye to yellowfin tuna catches in response to the IVT.
Examine whether there is evidence in a reduction in the concentration of bigeye tuna catches within a subset of fishing vessels in response to the IVT.
Examine whether there has been evidence of shifts in broader fishing strategies (set types, location, timing, etc.) in potential relation to the IVT.
- Deliverables
- A report for the SAC in 2024 (SAC-15 INF-K)
