Abstract

It is well known that a great deal of money that is required to study marine mammals in open waters. For this reason, most published papers that are listed for Venezuela in the Caribbean and adjacent waters of Western Central Atlantic are related to coastal waters. It has been demonstrated that the effectiveness of on-board monitoring of fishing boats can obtain equally reliable as small ones near offshore . In this regard, we used data collected by the National Observer Program of Venezuela and the Foundation for Sustainable and Responsible Fisheries Tuna (PNOV-FUNDATUN), during 44 days aboard a pilot trip of a tuna purse seiner boat of Venezuela. The main objective of this study was to record information on different aspects of tuna fishing. Different types of register forms were tested simultaneously. The effectiveness of register sheets of marine mammal was verified. Eight marine mammals species were sighted between October and November 2004, for a total of 24 observations, which were: 11 great whales of the genus Balaenoptera spp, 8 spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata, 3 spinner dolphins, Stenella longirostris, 3 pilot whales or “guamachines”, Globicephala macrorhynchus, 1 dolphin Melon-headed, Peponocephala electra, 1 bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, and 1 striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba. There were three hauls of tuna associated with whales; none of them were captured because they had evaded the encirclement without apparent damage before the rings get closed. The maintenance of such records will compliment the future stocks assessment of marine mammal in the area.

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