THE PNA has detected some interesting fishing patterns during the FAD closure period.
Fishing effort was high in the northern and eastern regions which is a contrast to the early 3 months of the year where fishing was heavy in the South.
Technical Adviser Dr Transform Aqorau said the warm waters in the southern edges of the concentration of skipjack saw heaving fishing in Solomon Islands in the first three months of the year.
This has shifted with a migration up North to FSM, Marshall Islands and to the east as well where free school fishing in Kiribati has been reported by observers to be high at this time of the year.
He said waters down in the southern ranges in Solomon Islands have been cool, a phenomenon that could be attributed to the southern winter.
There has obviously been a reduction in the number of vessels fishing during the FAD free period with a number of them tied up for repairs, he said.
Dr Aqorau, said the fishing patterns of during the last couple of weeks shows 19% of vessels in PNA waters are in FSM either in port in the EEZ, 33% are in Kiribati waters, 8% are in Marshall Islands waters, 8.6% are in Nauru waters, 17.8% are in PNG waters, 3.4% are in Solomon Islands waters, 2.2% are in Tokelau waters, and 9% are in Tuvalu waters.
“The fishing patterns of the various flags reflect historical trends with most of the Japanese vessels fishing in the west, while the Taiwanese and Korean vessels are generally spread across the region with most of the vessels in Kiribati, and Nauru. The US flagged vessels having been fishing in Tokelau and Tuvalu, he said.
—PNA
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