Observatory

The main objective of the IRD's Exploited Tropical Pelagic Ecosystems Observatory is the collection, validation, archiving and analysis of data from the French tropical tuna fishery in the indian and atlantic oceans.

Context

Large pelagic fishes, including tunas, are the major exploited resource of the global tropical ocean. Europe is actively involved in this exploitation and is listed as the world’s second-largest producer of major tunas, especially from the French and Spanish purse seine fleets present in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. These tunas are highly migratory and occupy waters under national jurisdiction (Exclusive Economic Zones, Coastal States) and international waters. For these two oceans, the management of these overlapping resources is led by international commissions, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). In this context, each fishing country is in charge of monitoring the fishing statistics of its fishing units.

Goals

The observatory of exploited tropical pelagic ecosystems (Ob7) of the Institute for Research for Development (IRD) coordinates all stages of the collection to the restitution of data, concerning the French tropical tuna fishery for the several end users of public authorities and research. Data collection is funded by Europe, under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), DPMA and IRD. In the context of the ecosystem approach to fisheries, the Ob7 has implemented an information system for data management and analysis as well as scientific collaborations in the North and South for the sharing of analytical tools data and outputs of the analyses, through which he studies:

  • The dynamics of large pelagic fisheries and their impacts on targeted resources (tunas) or by-catch (marlins, sharks, sea turtles…)
  • The biodiversity of pelagic ecosystems
  • The functioning of large pelagic communities and their status in contexts of overfishing and climate change.

Mission

The Ob7 is a device for collecting, verifying, archiving, processing and analysing, and restoring statistical data of the French tropical tuna fishery. The Ob7 is explicitly responsible for monitoring the French fleet (23 purse seiners and bait boats) deployed in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans through a contractual relationship with the French Directorate of Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture (DPMA) within the framework of the national program. multiannual collection of fisheries data financed by the European Union. Each year, it produces official statistics (specific catches, fishing effort, species size distributions) for national, European and coastal State administrative structures with which Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs) have been developed. signed and international tuna commissions (ICCAT and IOTC).

The Ob7 manages a source of information made available to national and international research teams via data calls. The historical series constructed are available since the 1950s and the early 1980s for the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, respectively. The Ob7 has set up scientific collaborations to share monitoring methods and data analysis tools with other tuna fisheries research institutions (IEO, Spain ; AZTI, Spain ; CRODT, Senegal ; CRO, Ivory Coast ; SFA, Seychelles ; USTA, Madagascar).