SKI-BOAT May/June 2017 • 39By Stewart Norman
I
N June 2016 the International
Commission for the Conservation
of the Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) initi-
ated the Atlantic Ocean Tropical
Tuna Tagging Program (AOTTP) funded
by its members and the European
Union. The target of the program is to
tag a total of 120 000 tunas in the
Atlantic Ocean within five years — the
largest tagging program ever attempted
by ICCAT. The information gained
through the tag-recapture data will help
improve and update scientific advice
and determine appropriate conserva-
tion and management measures in
order to achieve sustainable manage-
ment of coastal state tropical tuna
resources.
Here in South Africa the aim is to
tag approximately 6 500 tuna. ICCAT
has contracted the scientific observer
and marine consulting company
Capricorn Marine Environmental
(CapMarine) to work in association
with the Department of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) to tag
tuna in South African waters.
CapMarine has extensive experi-
ence with large-scale tag-recapture pro-
jects, having carried out the Indian
Ocean Tuna Tagging Program, where
over 260 000 tropical tunas weretagged over two years in 2006/7. South
Africa was chosen for the AOTTP since
yellowfin tuna over 90cm in fork length
are regularly caught in our waters and
are not that common in the equatorial
areas of the East Atlantic. The tagging
and recapture of tuna this size will
greatly contribute to the gap in the sci-
entific knowledge.
The tagging of tuna in South Africa
started on 1 February 2017 and will
continue until the end of April 2017.
The experienced CapMarine tagging
team ensures that the tagging process
runs smoothly with minimal stress and
harm to the fish. The tagging team was
issued an explicit capture and releaseSCIENTIFIC
DESPERATELY SEEKING
Please support the Atlantic Ocean Tropical Tuna Tagging Program