PapuaPapua NewNew Guinea/SPCGuinea/SPC TunaTuna TaggingTagging Project:Project: PRFPPRFP linkinglinking toto thethe biggerbigger picturepicture

David Itano 1 Kim Holland 2 John Hampton 3

1 University of Hawaii, Pelagic Fisheries Research Program 2 Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii 3 Secretariat of the Pacific Commission, Oceanic Fisheries Programme TunaTuna resourcesresources ofof thethe WesternWestern andand CentralCentral Pacific:Pacific: historical overview: South Pacific Commission programs

•• Skipjack Survey and Assessment Programme – 1977 – 1980 (field operations) – survey and stock assessment of WCPO skipjack and tuna baitfish resources for fisheries development and management •• Regional Tuna Tagging Programme – 1989 – 1992 – emphasis on yellowfin tuna resource and assessment under rapidly increasing purse seine and longline exploitation •• Regional Tuna Tagging Project - Phase I: Papua New Guinea – Oceanic Fisheries Programme / Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the National Fisheries Authority / PNG – 2005 – 2006 (six months total) taggingtagging platformsplatforms

SSAP – Hatsutori Maru #5 RTTP – M/V Te Tautai

PNG Tuna Tagging Project, Phase I – M/V Soltai 6 polepole--andand--lineline geargear forfor conventionalconventional taggingtagging adf 150 E 160 E 170 E 180 170 W 160 W 150 W 140 W 130 W USA

JAPAN Western and Central Pacific Research and Management Mexico Minami Tori HAWAII Shima

20 N Wake CNMI Johnston

Guam Marshall Islands 10 N Federated States of Micronesia Palmyra Palau

Howland Indonesia Kiribati & Baker 0 PNG Nauru Jarvis

Phoenix Line Islands Islands

Tuvalu Solomon Tokelau Islands 10 S Cook Islands W&F Samoa Am Fiji Samoa

Australia Vanuatu Tonga Niue French Polynesia New Caledonia

Pitcairn

Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission (Secretariat of the Pacific Community) ) and ) and red red ) FADs ) FADs green green by Purse Seine fleets by Purse Seine fleets anchored ( anchored ( increasing use of drifting ( increasing use of drifting (

current exploitation levels in WCPO current exploitation levels in WCPO > 1000 mt/year since 1999 > 1000 mt/year since 1999 recentrecent exploitationexploitation levelslevels

Papua New Guinea EEZ – 250,000 to 400,000 mt of tropical tunas per year PhasePhase II studystudy areaarea

Minami Hawaii Tori Shima Wake Northern Marianas Johnston Philippines Guam Marshall Islands

Federated States of Micronesia Palmyra Palau Howland and Baker Indonesia Papua New Guinea Nauru Kiribati Jarvis Line Phoenix Islands Tuvalu Solomon Is Tokelau Cook Wallis & Western Islands Futuna Samoa Fiji Am Samoa Tonga Australia Vanuatu New Niue Caledonia F Matthew & Bismarck archipelago and Solomon Sea BismarckBismarck archipelagoarchipelago andand SolomonSolomon SeaSea

140 E 145 E 150 E 155 E

0

Manus Island

New Ireland Bismarck Sea

Papua New05 S PAPUA NEW GuineaGUINEA New Britain Bougainville

Solomon Sea

10001000 (or(or so)so) anchoredanchored FADsFADs 1992 1992

– –

1989 1989

Regional Tuna Tagging Project Regional Tuna Tagging Project data time series data time series

1980 1980

– –

1977 1977

Skipjack Survey and Skipjack Survey and

Assessment Programme Assessment Programme PNGPNG PhasePhase I:I: tagtag typestypes forfor differentdifferent objectivesobjectives

conventional dart tags

sonic transmitting tags

data archiving tags Hawaii sonic tagging research

inter-FAD movements Yellowfin & bigeye long-term residence LL

Yellowfin & bigeye co-residence

CO

vertical behavior small vs large YFT Oahu R

Honolulu

FAD related catchability 20 km trophic relationships

excursions away from FADs Tag types and objectives sonic and archival tags – surgical implantation sonicsonic receiversreceivers experimentalexperimental designdesign Basic Hardware (PFRP) • 50 VEMCO VR2 sonic tag receivers • 150 V9 sonic pinger tags • 120 V9P depth sensing sonic tags

FAD related Objectives (size and species specific) • residence time and movement rates • diurnal vertical behavior and fine-scale arrival and departure rates • inter-FAD movements within FAD clusters • examine schooling dynamics and synchronicity

Related studies • double tagging with geo-locating archival tags • trophic studies via gut sampling and isotope analyses • sonic monitoring of seamounts • recapture rates on and off FADs CruiseCruise 1:1: receiverreceiver equippedequipped FADFAD clustersclusters

Archival and sonic tag releases SKJ YFT BET Total V9 sonic alone 7 13 6 26 V9P sonic alone0628 LTD 1110 archival0000 LTD 2410 archival0011 MK9 archival0101 V9 + LTD 1110 0055 V9P + LTD 1110 0101 V9 + LTD 2410 0011 V9 + MK90606 totals 7 27 15 49

V9s used 7 19 12 38 V9Ps used0729 Sonic tag releases 7 26 14 47 initialinitial datadata acquisitionacquisition PNGPNG PhasePhase II ,, …… andand beyondbeyond PNGPNG

• Cruise 2 – March to June 2007

SPC plans for larger-scale tagging program

• Phase II – extension to other areas of the WCPO – Covering SE Asia to the Central Pacific • Approach – Funding: several donors targeted, some secured, WCPFC role – Larger vessel required, multi-vessel approach possible, International collaboration, i.e. IATTC liaison with Eastern Pacific Ocean region • Establish a Project Steering Committee, seek WCPF Commission endorsement • Seek national collaboration/participation thethe endend