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Tuna Tagging Project

The Marine Research Centre is collaborating with the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission in their efforts in conducting an ocean-wide tuna tagging programme. The objective of the Indian Ocean Tuna Tagging Programme (IOTTP) is to increase understanding of the population dynamics of the main species of tuna in the Indian Ocean fisheries. Growth rates, exchanges between various fishery components, their natural and fishing mortality rates are critical information required for stock assessment work which reliably obtained from tagging experiments.   

The Small Scale Tuna Tagging Programme of the Maldives complements to the tagging effort of the EU-supported Regional Tuna Tagging Project. The specific objective of the Maldives programme was to release over 20,000 fish (bigeye, yellowfin and skipjack) from Maldives fishery area. A similar programme was conducted by MRC in 2004-2005 which released over 7,000 fish.

The primary objective of 2007 Project was to release tags at the same time with the Western Indian Ocean releases by the RTTP. This was to ensure maximum information was obtained by way of exchange of tagged fish from the Maldives and the Western Indian Ocean fishery components. Logistics and weather, however, made it impossible to achive this objective. The first releases in Malidves  occured in early 2008, some 6 mohts after RTTP has completed its releases.

Small scale tagging projects have also been conducted in India (Minicoy and Andaman Islands) and in Indonesia (western side) and in Malaysia all complementing the main release effort of the RTTP.

A  summary of releases and recovery of the 2007 Project is is given below (release and recoveries up to November 2008).

Link under News & Events about the December 2008 tagging trip. For more information please contact: Ahmed Riyaz Juharee.

Updated: 30 November 2008

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