Minimizing the Impact of Yellowfin Tuna Thunnus albacares fishing in Banda Sea

Abstract

The declining trend of Yellowfin Tuna Thunnus albacares production in Fishery Management Territory of Indonesia 714 nowadays will affect the demand for tuna products in Indonesia and global. Regarding the management purposes, the impact of fishing needs to be minimized. Therefore, the estimation of population structure based on the length and age is very important to be studied. The data were collected from November 2015 to October 2016 from longline and handline catching activities operated in the Banda Sea. The average length of yellowfin tuna caught with longline and handline was 98.5 cm and the first length maturity was Lm 103.6 cm. The result showed that the first yellowfin tuna caught was Lc_opt 125.2 cm, where fishing mortality ratio toward natural mortality was at the level that endangered the sustainability of yellowfin tuna fisheries in the Banda Sea. To minimize the impact, there needs to be a minimum size regulation of yellowfin tuna that should be landed.