Several Members of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission expressed their concern at the First and Second Sessions of its Scientific Committee about the damage caused by marine mammals and shark predation on longline-caught tunas. Losses to predation of between 20 and 30 % of the total longline catches were reported in some parts of the Indian Ocean.

For the purpose of collecting reliable and comprehensive information about this problem, improving catch statistics related to this situation, finding possible methods of preventing this predation and exploring any possible implications for stock assessment of tunas and the ecosystem approach, the Commission has endorsed the following proposal by Japan for a 5-year research plan :

1. Japan will provide draft survey forms on predation of tunas caught by the longline fishery to the IOTC Secretariat , based on forms used by Japan in the past. No later than the end of 2000, the Secretariat will distribute those forms to the member countries to initiate the survey. As soon as possible, the IOTC Secretariat will form a working group specific to this survey through correspondence, to facilitate the survey design and subsequent work of this project.
2. IOTC will review the status of the survey annually during 2001-2003.
3. The result of analyses based on the data collected through this survey will be reported by the working group to the Session of the Scientific Committee in 2004.

As this is a problem that potentially affects fisheries of interest to all, we would like to invite all the concerned parties to participate in these joint research activities that, hopefully, will clarify the extent of the problem and provide better knowledge regarding possible remedial measures. To this end, the Commission would like to request to all interested parties to initiate the collection of relevant data in the fisheries under their jurisdiction.

To assist in these effort, the Secretariat has made available an example of a survey form (download pdf, 39K) to be distributed among longline fishing masters with the request that they be completed for each trip to the best of their knowledge. Please, feel free to adapt the form to your needs, but keep in mind that the essential information required is time and position of the set and an estimate of the number of fish damaged in each set.

To ensure the appropriate coordination and functioning of the working group, we would also appreciate if you could communicate to the Secretariat:

1. The steps that you have taken to implement the distribution and collection of the survey forms
2. If you have modified the sample form, a copy of your version
3. Any problems encountered in the implementation of these initial steps or any comment or suggestions that you think might be useful to the successful implementation of this research proposal.