PROJECTS

International and inter-institutional Projects
Tuna Tagging in Indian waters

For the first time in Indian waters tuna tagging activity was undertaken with the support of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) during 2005-2008. Had the opportunity to be the National Correspondent and the Coordinator of the two tagging projects, one in Lakshadweep group of islands and the second one in Andaman and Nicobar waters. The small scale tuna tagging projects undertaken from these two islands was part of the Ocean-wide tagging undertaken by the IOTC in the Western and Eastern Indian Ocean regions. India was highly benefitted from these two projects, especially the Scientists getting trained in this specialised activity by the international experts. The tagging activity enable in understanding the migration routes of the highly migratory tuna fishes especially yellowfin tunas , their growth, biological features like food and feeding habits, feeding and breeding grounds etc. In both the Projects the tagging was undertaken from the traditional Pole and line boats operated by the fishermen of Lakshadweep islands. These boats are operated for about 8hrs on daily basis. The tagging involves catching of live tunas, tag them using conventional dart tags ot electronic tags and release them back to the sea with in less than 30 seconds after noting the essential data mainly the length and weight of the fish. The recapture is reported by the fishermen when they capture the tagged tunas during the course of their fishing activity. The recapture is reported from with in the area of release to far away places like Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychells, Thailand etc. Another important feature of pole and line fishing is the requirement of bait fish in good quantities for luring the tunas. Once the shoal of tunas is sighted, the fishermen throw the baitfish to sustain the shoal till maximum catches are hauled. In Lakshadweed islands the fishermen set out for bait fishing prior to proceeding to the fishing ground which is mainly done in the lagoons. Small bait fishes mainly spratteloids are caught and stored in the bait tanks of the boats. The operations commence in the early morning hours. In Andamans , in the absence of lagoons bait fishing was carried out in different areas of availability and store them in floating bait tanks one day prior to fishing.
For further details on the tuna tagging refer the report of tuna tagging by S..Varghese et.al(2008).