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Mozambique

Mozambique has a coastline of 2,470 km bordering a continental shelf of some 70 000 square km, alternatively narrow and very wide (90 km in front of Beira). The most productive marine fishing areas lie in front of the main rivers draining into the sea (most notably the Sofala Bank and Maputo Bay). Pelagic longline is the main fishing method used by Mozambican vessels to target tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Area of Competence. In 2018, two domestic longline vessels were issued with licences to catch tuna and tuna-like species. In addition, 36 foreign fishing vessels (four purse seine and 32 longliners) were issued licences to operate in the Mozambican fishing area. In 2018, the total catch of tuna and tuna like-species in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission Area of Competence, within the Mozambique EEZ was 7 583 t. Foreign fishing vessels accounted for 37% of total catch and domestic vessels accounted for 63% of the total catch. Of this, yellowfin represented 56% of the total catch followed by bigeye tuna (13%) and swordfish (7%). Shark species reported by this fleet represented about 1% of the total catch, composed by of blue shark. The domestic longline vessels produced a total catch of 135 tons (3% of the total domestic production for IOTC species). Yellowfin tuna (46%) and swordfish (34%) dominated the domestic landings, followed by bigeye tuna and dorado with 6% each.

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