The Artisanal Fishery
The artisanal fishery comprises all domestic fisheries, including boats ranging in length from 4 to 15 m. The main gears used by the artisanal fishing fleet include hook and line, drop-lines, traps and nets that are used to catch a diverse array of demersal and pelagic fish species.
The fishery is limited to the Mahé Plateau from the near shore to the edges of the plateau, an area of around 41,000 km2 and operates from Mahé, Praslin and La Digue. More recently the schooner fishery has expanded to the Amirantes Group of islands which is 12 nautical miles from the closest point off Mahé Plateau and 112 nautical miles from the Victoria fishing port.
Artisanal Fishery catches (Mt) , Years 2007 to 2018 | ||||||||||||
Years | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
Total Catches | 4,196 | 4,778 | 3,031 | 2,597 | 2,871 | 2,506 | 4,150 | 3,633 | 3,214 | 2,516 | 4,211 | 4,740 |
Demersal Catches | 2,562 | 2,658 | 1,782 | 1,453 | 1,539 | 1,014 | 1,557 | 1,645 | 1,224 | 1,076 | 1,716 | 2,104 |
Pelagic Catches | 1,497 | 1,987 | 1,112 | 1,016 | 1,228 | 1,344 | 2,410 | 1,672 | 1,850 | 1,301 | 2,256 | 2,309 |
Other Species catches | 137 | 133 | 137 | 128 | 104 | 149 | 184 | 316 | 140 | 139 | 239 | 328 |
Number of Boats | 384 | 432 | 511 | 439 | 424 | 438 | 425 | 428 | 445 | 476 | 420 | 460 |
Effort (Mendays) | 65,505 | 64,635 | 44,603 | 46,153 | 38,671 | 33,203 | 47,082 | 44,691 | 50,604 | 35,286 | 59,969 | 61,787 |
CPUE(kg/Menday) | 52.6 | 62.7 | 53.4 | 43.6 | 56.7 | 43.1 | 62.7 | 48.8 | 39.7 | 45.7 | 46.9 | 50.9 |