The Eastern Indian Ocean (Figure B9.1) covers 29.88 million km² including the Bay of Bengal in the north, the Andaman Sea and northern part of the Malacca Straits in the east, and the waters around the west and south of Australia. The main shelf areas include those of the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Martaban and the narrower shelf areas on the western and southern sides of Indonesia and Australia for a total of 2.37 million km² of shelf area. The main fisheries are coastal and they are concentrated in these shelf areas. The resources range from typical tropical species found in the northern part of the area to temperate species in the waters of the southern latitudes west and south of Australia.

Figure B9.1 The Eastern Indian Ocean (Area 57)

In the northern part of the region, north of about 15⁰S, the fisheries are multispecies and multigear with the concentration of fishing in the inshore area. The fisheries serve as a source of employment and protein supply for a large population. Fishing pressure keeps increasing in the coastal areas off the east of India, the west of Thailand and the east coast of Sumatra facing the Malacca Strait. Knowledge of the fish stocks is generally poor and management actions have usually been taken on an ad hoc basis, in most cases with lack of prior scientific analysis. Poaching is still a problem in this area due to the weakness of monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) in many coastal states.

In the southern part of the region off Australia, fishing pressure on most resources is less intense due to the relatively low population density and local fish demand and to the more active monitoring, control and surveillance, except for high valued fish such as southern bluefin tuna which has also been the target of the distant water fishing fleets.

Profile of catches

Catches in the Eastern Indian Ocean have increased steadily since 1950 (Figure B9.2 and Table D9), and at an accelerated pace since the early 1970s with total catches above 4.0 million tonnes since 1993 and reaching 5.1 million tonnes in 2002. Most of the recent increase in catches was driven almost solely by "marine fish nei" group. Five ISSCAAP fish groups accounted for more than 85 percent of the catches in 2002 with the largest individual contribution (44 percent) being marine fishes not identified (ISSCAAP group 39), an indication of the multispecies nature of the fisheries, particularly in the northern part of the region. Miscellaneous pelagic fishes (ISSCAAP group 37) with 10.4 percent held the second place and miscellaneous coastal fishes at 10 percent (ISSCAAP group 33) held the third one. Tunas, bonitos, and billfishes (ISSCAAP group 36) and Herrings, sardines, and anchovies (ISSCAAP group 35) accounted for 8.7 and 7.9 percent respectively.

Figure B9.2 Annual nominal catches ('000t) by ISSCAAP species groups in the Eastern Indian Ocean (Area 57)

Northern areas

Most of the catch from coastal fisheries in the northern areas of the Eastern Indian Ocean is used for local consumption. Fish are generally considered an affordable source of protein by most people in the region. Fisheries are typically multispecies and multigear. The dominance of the group marine fishes not identified (ISSCAAP group 39) in the catch reflects to some extent the weak fishery statistical systems of the countries in the region. Croakers (Sciaenidae), sea catfish nei (Ariidae) and ponyfishes (Leiognathidae) dominated the catch of miscellaneous coastal fishes (ISSCAAP species group 33) and showed continued increase since 1960s, though with fluctuation, (Figure B9.3). Total production of group 33 has been relatively stable for the last 5 years, with catches ranging from 507 000t and 515 000t.

In the herring, sardines and anchovies (ISSCAAP group 35), the catch of anchovy (Stolephorus spp.) and Indian oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) continued to increase in the 1990s to reach 85 000t for the anchovy in 1998 and 92 000t for the oil sardine in 1997. Since then the catch declined to 20 000t in 2002 for oil sardine while anchovy catches have oscillated between 75 000t and 89 000t in the last five years (Figure B9.4).

The mackerels (Rastrelliger spp.) and other pelagic species dominated the miscellaneous pelagic fishes (ISSCAAP group 37). The catch of Indian mackerel (R. kanagurta) reached a peak of 267 000t in 1995 but declined subsequently, being 207 000t in 2002. Snoek and cutlass fish show an irregular increase with peak catches of 65 000t in 1998. The other miscellaneous demersal group shows a stable catch in the last three years (Figure B9.5). In localized areas, signs of overfishing are obvious. A recent study indicates that during the last decade total catch by trawling in the eastern coast of India has decreased by 41 percent from 31 000t to 18 772t, while the catch rate declined by as much as 61 percent from 48.8 to 18.6 kg per hour of trawling (Vivekanandan, 2002).

Though cephalopods (ISSCAAP group 57) is commercially important, its production is small, with only Thailand producing relatively high catches, nearly 60 000t in the last three years. Some of the Thai fleets have also expanded to fish in other countries through various joint agreements. It is likely that the potential for development of this fishery exists in the region, although further work is still needed in assessing the resources, in addition to the familiarity with the fishing technique.

Although they made a small contribution to catch volumes, shrimps and prawns (ISSCAAP group 45) and tunas, bonitos and billfishes (ISSCAAP group 36) makes a large contribution to the landed and export values. A peak in the shrimp and prawn catch occurred in 2000 with 247 000t before decreasing to 216 000t in 2002. Meanwhile tuna catch reached a peak in 1999 with 516 000t before showing continued decline in the following years. Total catches in 2002 were 447 000t (Figure B9.6). The increase in tuna production during the 1990s was largely contributed to by Indonesia and Sri Lanka. While Thailand experienced a catch decline, the catch by India showed a slight increase as a result of longline fishing that developed in recent years.

Figure B9.3 Annual nominal catches ('000t) of selected species in ISSCAAP Group 33, Eastern Indian Ocean (Area 57)

Figure B9.4 Annual nominal catches ('000t) of selected species in ISSCAAP Group 35, Eastern Indian Ocean (Area 57)

Figure B9.5 Annual nominal catches ('000t) of selected species in ISSCAAP Groups 34 & 37, Eastern Indian Ocean (Area 57)

Figure B9.6 Annual nominal catches ('000t) of selected species in ISSCAAP Groups 24, 36, 45, 57 Eastern Indian Ocean (Area 57)

Southern areas

The main fisheries in the southern areas of the Eastern Indian Ocean are off the west and Southwest of Australia. Total catches were 56 800t in 1970 and increased to a peak of 127 800 t in 1993, it fluctuated during the following years and finally went down to 110 000t in 2001. This is considerably less than the catches in the northern areas.

The important group in the catches included spiny-lobster, tuna and orange roughy. Lobster catches have been increasing slowly from 6 000t in 1950 to 10-12 000t during the 1980s and 1990s. Catches increased steeply to almost 19 000t in 2000 before decreasing to 13 500t in 2002. The fishery is one of the valuable fishery and it generates export earnings in addition to the tuna fishery. Unlike in the northern part, tuna catches in this area are dominated by southern bluefin tuna. Its catches peaked at 20 000t in 1982, but they have declined since to 2 100t in 1993 before rising again to nearly 5 500t in 2002. However, recent analysis indicates that southern bluefin tuna as being overexploited.

Catches for the herrings, sardine and anchovies (ISSCAAP Group 35) peaked at 17 800t in 1988 and subsequently declined to about 9 800t in 1992, then showed slight increase before dropping again to 4 377t in 1999. Total catch of the group has increased since, reaching 14 440t in 2002. It is not clear whether these fluctuations in catches are the result of excessive fishing pressure, to environmental changes or to a combination of both. There were, however, two very large mass mortalities of pilchard throughout southern Australia (and extending up the east and west coasts) in the late 1990s. These events, which may have been caused by a virus introduced in the food used in tuna cages, decimated populations, which are only just now starting to recover.

A similar pattern is seen in the catch of scallops (ISSCAAP Group 55), which showed peaks in 1984 of about 27 000t but in 1989 catches were down to 1 800t. The catch continued to fluctuate and peaked again in 1993 at 27 200t before it declined to 2 525t in 2002. Scallops have tended to show a boom bust cycle over a long period in southern Australia and currently many stocks are currently closed to fishing. Although recruitment events tend to be episodic, there is also evidence for overfishing of individual stocks.

High seas

Distant-water fleets from Asia (China, Japan, Republic of Korea and Taiwan Province of China) and Europe (primarily France and Spain) fish in the high seas of the Eastern Indian Ocean. While longline is the main gear for the Asian fleet, purse seine is the main gear for the European fleet. Tunas are the main target species, but sharks are also caught. Japan was leading in the 1960s with a peak of 58 000t in 1967, but it subsequently declined irregularly to 5 000t in 1992, increasing to a peak of 39 400t in 1995 before a decline to 18 000t in 2001 . Taiwan Province of China has been fishing in the region since the late 1960s with a first peak of catches at 31 000t in 1986-1987, followed by a trough. Catches have increased steadily from 1991 to 41 000t in 1997, before decreasing to 23 000t in 2000 and 13 000t in 2002. Catches of the Republic of Korea have generally been lower, although they did reach a peak of 19 900t in 1979, but they were only 3 400t in 2002. China started fishing in the area in 1995 and the catch in 2001 reached 4 000t. There had been an increased number of Taiwanese fleets using Phuket (Thailand) and Penang (Malaysia) as a base for their operation. This could be due to the high demand of tuna by the canneries in Thailand in recent years or excellent port facilities for direct export to any destination. In the early 1970s the fleet of the former USSR started fishing in the area, although the catch was less than those of the Asian fleet, their fleet stopped fishing in 1986. The Polish fleet also fished in the area in the late 1980s but made insignificant catch. The French and Spanish fleets began fishing in the area in late 1997. The French fleet landed 10 800t in 1998, 100t in 2000 and reported no catches since, while Spain caught 17 700t in 1998, 200t in 2000 and 1 615t in 2002.

Northern areas

Overexploitation of the resources in coastal waters of the northern areas of the Eastern Indian Ocean is very much related to the population pressure in the coastal area, lack of employment opportunities and ineffectiveness of management measures. Current status of exploitation and trend of catch in the region is shown in Table D.9. Zoning scheme of the coastal waters according to fishing gears is quite common in the region (India, Indonesia, Malaysia) and to a certain extent area closures during certain season is popular in Thailand in the management of short mackerels (Rastrelliger spp.). Area closures in association with marine parks are common measures in the case of Malaysia and the Philippines. Insufficient MCS has undermined the implementation of management. FAO, in an effort to assist its member countries, organized a series of workshops in 1999-2001 in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand with the financial support of Norway (FISHCODE or GCP/INT/648/NOR) to familiarize the Fisheries Department of those countries with the process of developing management plan for selected fisheries. The exercise encourages participating countries to improve management by promoting more participation of stakeholders in the decision making process. Such assistance is still going on in Indonesia and Thailand for which workshops are scheduled for 2003. The Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries has recently made a joint arrangement on fisheries research with the Fisheries Center of the University of British Columbia in an effort to strengthen research capacity in Indonesia with emphasis on ecosystem management.

Overexploitation of penaeid shrimp resources in coastal waters have in fact stimulated the development of aquaculture in many countries in the region. With the limited use or access to waste treatment systems in most countries, organic material and eutrophication seems to be the major aquatic pollution problem. The cyclones that enter the Bay of Bengal are a considerable natural hazard to fishers, particularly given the absence of good weather forecasts and the limited electronic equipment on most fishing vessels. There is a resulting high casualty among fishermen during the cyclone season.

Southern areas

The most valuable fisheries in the southern part includes northern prawn, rock lobster and southern bluefin tuna. Fisheries management in the region falls under the responsibility of the Commonwealth government of Australia and some Australian states/territories (AFMA, 2002). Management of the northern prawn fishery is under the Commonwealth government, while rock lobster is under the state government of Western Australia. The majority of fisheries have been managed by the allocation of fishing rights, either in the form of catch or effort (Caton, 2000). The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) with Australia, Japan and New Zealand as members came into existence in 1994. The Republic of Korea joined the organization in 2001, while fishing entity of Taiwan Province of China has become extended member in 2002. The CCSBT is developing a status of “co-operating non-member” to allow fishing nations to engage with the Commission without becoming full members. This status is expected to take effect in 2003 and Indonesia is expected to be the first country to take advantage of this arrangement (CCSBT, 2003). Meanwhile South Africa has indicated its interest in joining the organization.

Overexploitation of the resources in coastal waters of the northern areas of the Eastern Indian Ocean is very much related to the population pressure in the coastal area, lack of employment opportunities and ineffectiveness of management measures. Current status of exploitation and trend of catch in the region is shown in Table D.9.

The bibliographic references are available through the hyperlink displayed in "Source of Information".