Purse seine fishing is a consistent and efficient method, enabling fishers to catch and freeze onboard large quantities of tuna.
Purse-seine vessels fish either by spotting free-swimming schools of tuna or by utilizing floating objects that attract fish, either with natural or manmade objects such as fish aggregating devices (FADs).
Bycatch
When fishing on free-swimming schools, purse-seine vessels have an average bycatch rate of less than 1%. When utilizing FADs, purse-seine vessels have bycatch rates from around 1% in the Eastern Pacific to nearly 9.5% in the Atlantic.
Fuel Efficiency
According to an ISSF-commissioned study, purse seine vessels consume 368 liters of fuel in order to land one ton of tuna.
PURSE SEINE RESOURCES
Purse-Seine Skippers & Observer Guides
On our ISSF Guidebooks site, we offer online and downloadable PDF guides for purse-seine fishers in several languages. The skippers guidebook covers FADs, bycatch mitigation and handling, fisheries management, and other topics.
Observers who work on purse seiners also have access to online and PDF guides that highlight purse-seine fishing techniques, species identification, bycatch, scientific sampling, and fisheries management.
Purse-Seine Tuna Catches
Use our “Interactive Stock Status and Catch Tool” to visualize the current purse-seine tuna catch —and purse-seine catch trends over time.
Download the data in different file formats, and generate custom graphics to share via email, Twitter, or Facebook.
