Fishes taken by purse - seine and dip net in the Zanzibar channel

Abstract

Two commercial fisheries exploit the pelagic fishes in East African coastal waters. Both are confined to the Zanzibar Channel, a shallow water bank extending from the Pangani Estuary (Latitude 50 26' S.) in the north to Dar salaam (Latitude 60 49' S.) in the south. Asardine purse-seine fishery was introduced into this area by Greek fishermen during 1961(E.A.M.F.R.O. Annual Report 1961), laser tuna seining was developed (E.A.M.F.R.O. Annual Report 1963). Japanese dip nets, or boke ami, came into operation off Dar es Salaam in 1964.Both sardine seining and dip netting depend essentially on the attraction of pelagic fish shoals to a source of artificial light at night; the tuna seine exploits the larger surface shoaling species during the hours of daylight