USA: NOAA Fisheries scientists, Derke Snodgrass and Eric Orbesen, ventured to the southern Caribbean in February to satellite tag highly migratory species around the waters of Curaçao. They focused on satellite tagging to capture data that will add to our growing knowledge on yellowfin tuna habitat use and movement patterns.

Since 2010, our center has deployed more than 100 satellite tags on yellowfin tuna throughout the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and Northwest Atlantic waters. These tags record depth (pressure), temperature, light level every 3 seconds (used to estimate geolocation). They transmit summarized sets of data via the Argos satellite system after the tag detaches from the fish (approximately 240 days later). This team wanted to fill in data gaps that were most prominent around Curaçao.

Curaçao is a small Island located in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea. A network of Fish Aggregating Devices attract billfish and tuna to the area, and local fishermen often move between these FADs to locate fish. While many yellowfin tunas are captured in this area, so far none of our previously tagged fish have ventured near Curaçao. To understand how spatial movement patterns vary over the species’ range, it is essential to monitor fish in as many diverse locations as possible. The data the team gathered from fish tagged in this geographic region will help scientists close the knowledge gap on movements of yellowfin tuna in the Western Atlantic.

Satellite tags are amazing tools for providing information not only on where fish move throughout an area, but also on how fish use different parts of the water column. Our primary objectives for studying oceanic and coastal pelagic species by satellite are to obtain information on:

By attaching satellite tags to these heavily targeted fish the team is able to acquire long-term data that assists in the management of these populations. The tagging data are submitted annually to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) to inform international stock assessments and are a key component in defining Essential Fish Habitat domestically. The data are also beneficial for estimating post-release mortality rates associated with different types of fishing. Our team used tags from the Cooperative Tagging Center, from University of Maine, and from ICCAT for this project.

This trip took place over the last week of February, when peak fishing activity usually occurs in the region. During the 8-day trip the team was able to get 14 yellowfin tunas tagged that weighed between 40–50 pounds (18-22 kg). They also tagged approximately 50 additional small tunas using traditional spaghetti tags. A variety of tuna species were tagged including skipjack, yellowfin, blackfin, and bigeye. Hopefully some of these fish will be recaptured in coming months or years and reported to us.

One unusual occurrence that happened while the team was on the trip was that one of the  tunas that was satellite tagged by our crew was recaptured. Overall, the science retained from the satellite tags will provide a lot of information about tunas in the southern Caribbean region. They will continue to tell us more about these species' habits and migratory patterns, so that we can provide data that directly improves stock assessments. Improved assessments will lead to more effective management of these species by ICCAT in partnership with NOAA Fisheries’ Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Management Division and Southeast Regional Office.

Source: NOAA

IRELAND:  Ireland’s Tuna CHART bluefin tuna sea angling survey programme for 2023 has opened for charter skippers to apply.

Anglers in Ireland will once again have the opportunity to catch and release bluefin tuna in 2023 through the continuation of the Tuna CHART (CatcH And Release Tagging) programme that has been in operation around our coast since 2019.

Experienced charter skippers are now invited to apply to take part in this year’s Atlantic bluefin tuna scientific survey programme of Irish waters.

Building on the successes of the Tuna CHART programmes of 2019-2022, this scientific data collection catch-and-release fishery for Ireland will again operate in 2023.

A maximum of 25 authorisations may be granted to qualifying angling charter vessel skippers around the Irish coast for this fishery, which opens on 1 July and closes on 12 November.

The Tuna CHART programme is a collaborative scientific programme between Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) and the Marine Institute in partnership with the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority

Source: afloat.ie

CAMBODIA: In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has opened a new Representation Office in the Cambodian capital to build on its long history of cooperation, FAO on 20 March 2023.

Cambodia joined FAO as a Member Nation in 1950. FAO opened its first full Representation Office in Phnom Penh in 1994. However, the Organization had been actively working in collaboration with its Member since 1979 to serve the needs of the Cambodian people.

During these years, FAO has provided assistance to support the implementation of the country’s national development priorities, through both emergency and technical support, in many areas including increasing agricultural productivity and diversification, irrigation, animal production and health, management of fisheries and forestry resources, food security, food safety, and agri-food industry development.

The official opening of the brand-new FAO Representation Office took place today in the Ministry’s compound and in the presence of H.E. Dith Tina, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), and Jong-Jin Kim, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific.

“The location of this brand-new FAO Representation, located within the compound of MAFF, is emblematic of the close cooperation that our Representatives and FAO technical colleagues have been enjoying for many years with Ministry counterparts and others, and I am sure its presence will enable further fruitful interaction between us,” said Kim.

The inauguration, in addition to marking another historical milestone of strong partnership between FAO and Cambodia also indicates a strong willingness on the part of MAFF to collaborate with FAO well into the future.

“We have been working very hard with FAO and other partners from the very beginning and so the result we have today is the fruit from what we had planted. We have been partners for 70 years. Since (restoration) of peace and elections in 1993 and the return of FAO in 1994, many things have changed, and in a positive way,” said H.E Dith Tina, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). “We came from a society where hunger was a permanent threat, but today we come to an era where we talk about the needs of the market and how we can grow sustainably.”

Through this convenient working environment, the technical relationship between the FAO Representation and Cambodia will result in even stronger ties and foster future innovative collaborations, speakers said.

Projects valued at over USD 65 million set to commence implementation in 2023.

By the end of 2023, FAO Cambodia aims to have commenced the implementation of a range of new projects, in close collaboration with MAFF and other partners, with total funding of over USD 65 million – raising the total value of FAO Cambodia’s country portfolio to more than USD 120 million. That would represent an increase of 120 percent in FAO’s country portfolio, compared to the previous year.

New additions to FAO Cambodia’s country portfolio include the recently approved Green Climate Fund PEARL project (USD 43 million). Focused on enhancing local people’s fight against climate change, it will be the biggest project in the portfolio. Additionally, FAO anticipates receiving funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for livestock and land restoration activities, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for forestry, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD).

“At FAO Cambodia, we are very much looking forward to developing even greater collaboration with MAFF and other development partners. Backed by the support we receive from our FAO Regional Office in Bangkok and FAO headquarters in Rome, I am confident working in this new Representation we will do just that,” said Rebekah Bell, FAO Representative in Cambodia. 

Bell added that FAO in Cambodia stands ready to continue its support to Cambodia to assist the Royal Government of Cambodia of achieving its priorities by building even more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all.

Source: FAO