Biosocioeconomic Assessment of the Effects of Fish Aggregating Devices in the Tuna Fishery in the Maldives - BOBP/WP/95

WORKING PAPERS - BOBP/WP/95

Biosocioeconomic Assessment of the Effects
of Fish Aggregating Devices in the Tuna Fishery
in the Maldives

by
Ali Naeem & A. Latheefa
Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture
Male, Maldives


Executing Agency: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Bay of Bengal Programme Madras, India, 1994

Table of Contents


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PREFACE

Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) have proved very successful in the Maldives, where there is a countrywide FAD installation programme by the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (MOFA) underway. The main reason for the success of FADs in the Maldives is their applicability to the existing fisheries. With the motorization of the fishing fleet, the efficiency and range of operation of the fleet has increased.

FADs help not only to reduce searching time and fuel costs, but they also considerably increase production.

Although the aggregation of fish around FADs has been demonstrated successfully and the merits of FAD-fishing proven, data on the cost-effectiveness of FADs are still lacking. MOFA, with the assistance of the Bay of Bengal Programme’s (BOBP) regional ‘Bioeconomics’ project (RAS/91/006), therefore, undertook to assess and quantify the impact of FADs in tuna fishing. The project installed two FADs in two separate areas in the Maldives and closely studied the biological, economic and sociological effects of them on the fisheries and on the island communities in the two areas. The effectiveness of the two FADs was measured by comparing data collected one year before and one year after their installation. The results of the study are presented in this paper. The study was funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).


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TABLE OF CONTENTS


WORKING PAPERS - BOBP/WP/95pdf

1. INTRODUCTION
2. METHODOLOGY

2.1 FAD specifications

3. RESULTS OF FISHING

3.1 Fish near and away from the FAD
3.2 Fishing methods
3.3 Species composition of the catches
3.4 Monthly catch rates and production
3.5 Size composition of tuna species
3.6 Costs and earnings

4. SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE ISLANDS

4.1 Income
4.2 Assets
4.3 Changes due to installation of FADs
4.4 Attitudes and responses of fisherfolk to the introduction of FADs

5. MAJOR FINDINGS

APPENDICESpdf

I. Catch rates and production before and after deployment of FADS
II. Length-frequency distribution of Skipjack tuna and Yellowfin tuna near FAD and away from FAD, in Areas 1 and 2
III. Cost and earnings analysis of fishing before and after deployment of FADS
IV. Income of fishing households before and after FADS

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