Early Season Report from Tristan's Head of FisheriesJames Glass on 27th July 2016
Photos taken by James of scenes as the fishing boat 'Kingfisher' was launched on the first fishing day on 25th July 2016
The first fishing day for the 2016-17 season, was on the 25th July. There was a later start to the season (with a possibility of three fishing days lost) due to the factory having to do maintenance on the freezers. The first day's landing on 25th July was 4.9mt of lobster, which was more than was landed on any day last season, with Kevin and Shaun being the top boat landing 1400lbs. The Total Allowable Catch for the Tristan da Cunha Islands was discussed at the 338th meeting of Island Council and the following was approved; Inaccessible 81 Tonnes; Gough 110 Tonnes; Tristan to remain at 120 Tonnes Nightingale TAC of 75 MT, it was agreed that a similar precautionary approach that was implemented for the previous two years should be followed, i.e. set the TAC at 70 MT when the season starts, and increased to 75 MT if the Catch Per Unit Effort is above the three year average prior to the wreck of the Oliva. An Operational Management Plan for Nightingale will be developed for use in setting the 2017/18 TAC. Total TAC = 386 tonnes |
