Small Tuna Fisheries in the Malacca Strait; west coast of Peninsular Malaysia

The purse seines contributed more than 80% of the annual catches of neritic tuna and as the most important fishing gear in neritic tuna fisheries. Two type of purse seines operating in Malaysia; using FADs and light luring and large purse seines > 70 GRT contributed more than 61% of total neritic tuna catches and their catch rates were higher than of small purse seines. The Strait of Malacca contributed 45% of the neritic tuna in Malaysia and the rest from the South China Sea and Sulu and Celebes seas, east coast of Borneo continent. The main species of neritic tuna found in the Malacca Strait are longtail (Thunnus tonggol) and kawakawa (Euthynnus affinis) while frigate tuna (Auxis thazard) were rarely caught. The fishing areas for Malaysia purse seines concentrated within one areas near border of Thailand and Indonesia. A few months size data collection showed that length distributions of kawakawa shifted to the left and the average size gradually decreasing from 339 mm in March to 235 mm in June. The activities of cross border fishing and landing by large purse seines (>70 GRT) between Malaysia and Thailand undermined the accuracy of catch and effort data from both countries. Collaboration among the member countries through IOTC and BOBLME is one of the practical approach to manage the shared stocks such as neritic tuna species.