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Tanzania ’to benefit from tuna study’
2005-08-13 08:02:01
By Emmanuel Kihaule
Tanzania stands to benefit from a major research project aimed at studying the size of tuna fish stock in the Indian Ocean.
Chief Co-oordinator of the Project Dr Jean-Pierre Hallier told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the research was expected to come up with vital information that would enable scientists to determine the status of fish species.
Besides, he added, the data obtained would also be used to analyse and conduct research on tuna biology and behaviour.
’’Improving our understanding of the state of tuna stocks is necessary for the conservation of these valuable species which will benefit Tanzania and other countries in the region,’’ he said.
The project involves catching of the fish, tagging them and then releasing them back into the sea so that they could be easily identified as part of the process to determine the size of the stock.
’’The tagged fish will later be recaptured and accounted for and a reward scheme will operate so as to encourage small scale and industrial fishermen to find the tagged fish and report the information to us,’’ Dr Hallier said.
The project, funded by the European Union, will cost about 14 million euros and is co-ordinated by the Mauritius-based Indian Ocean Commission and implemented by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) which has its headquarters in Victoria, Seychelles.
IOTC is responsible for the conservation and management of tuna and related species in the Indian Ocean and is currently made up of 24 member states.
Two vessels, the Aita Fraxku and Kermantxo, crewed by professional fisherman with the necessary facilities for the exercise, are being used in the project.
The fishing boats, which have been docking at Dar es Salaam port for refueling and restocking for the past two weeks, are part of a five-year Regional Tuna Tagging Project in the Indian Ocean.
Dr Hallier said the project was also meant to determine and highlight the impact of large-scale fishing of tuna in the Indian Ocean.
’’This is the first time that we have had such a research in the Indian Ocean…these fish are caught in huge quantities which threaten their existence. We want to do something to protect them,’’ he said.
Over five hundred tuna fish have been caught and tagged along the Tanzanian coast where the exercise is currently underway.
Jan Hoogesteger, who is in charge of the two vessels, said the duration of the exercise would cover all areas where the fish were found.
Other scientists in the exercise are IOTC tuna technician Julien Million and Teresa Athayde, the project’s Publicity and Tag Recovery Officer.
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