Recent Use of Fish Aggregating Devices in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Tuna Purse-211 Seine Fishery: 1990-1994 (Revised March 1996)

摘要

Although the precise mechanisms involved in the attraction of fish to floating211u001eobjects are unknown, it occurs with sufficient regularity to justify research 211u001ethat explores the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) to enhance dolphin-safe 211u001efishing efforts in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP). The focus of NMFS 211u001eDolphin-Safe FAD research is to develop methods to build and deploy relatively 211u001einexpensive drifting and anchored FADs that will attract mature tuna in 211u001esufficient abundance to supplement current harvest levels and to decrease fishing 211u001eactivity associated with dolphins. The purpose of this report is to provide some 211u001ebackground on the potential of FADs to aggregate tuna, describe the 211u001einvestigations undertaken by NMFS, and present the results of a cooperative 211u001eresearch project.