In the same year, longliners licensed to operate in the Seychelles EEZ caught 8 257 t of tuna, with fishing effort corresponding to 17.7 million hooks and catches being made up of 54% bigeye tuna, 17% yellowfin tuna, 5% swordfish and 24% other species, chiefly marlin, sailfish and sharks.

1. From 14 February to 30 April, it shall be prohibited to use any demersal trawl, seine or similar towed net, any gillnet, trammel net, entangling net or similar static net or any fishing gear incorporating hooks within that part of ICES Division VIIa enclosed by:

The use for fishing and the keeping on board of any longlines with hooks of a total length less than 3,95 cm and of a width less than 1,65 cm shall be prohibited for any fishing vessel using longlines and landing or having on board a quantity of red sea-bream (Pagellus bogaraveo) that constitutes more than 20 % of the catch in live weight after sorting.

In order to avoid further increases in mortality rates for juveniles and to substantially reduce the amount of discards of dead marine organisms by fishing vessels, it is appropriate to provide for increases in mesh sizes and hook sizes for trawl nets, bottom-set nets and longlines used for fishing for certain species of marine organisms and for the mandatory use of square-meshed netting.

Lastly, on account of the major 'technical problems' which emerged following the signing into force of the Agreement, which the Commission has acknowledged and which affect fishing techniques such as seine fishing (fishing with lamps) and longline fishing (length, hooks), the distribution of pelagic fishing and landing in local ports, the Commission must be asked to keep Parliament informed regarding any changes it makes and to ensure that measures applied to local fleets are not discriminatory by comparison with those applied to the Community fleet.

Furthermore, with regard to the Commission’s maximal initiative on bans, minimum sizes and hooks for the fishing of highly migratory species, it has been agreed firstly to attempt to get the regional fisheries organisations, such as the GFCM and the ICCAT, to produce these regulations, since this fishing is also carried out in the Mediterranean by third-country fleets and it does not make sense to impose restrictions solely on Community vessels.