To fulfil fisheries management objectives that often include implementing the precautionary and ecosystem-based approaches, multispecies fisheries data need to be analysed. Amongst the different methods dealing with these multidimensional data, self-organizing maps (SOMs) remain rarely used, although they are highly flexible in data input and offer visualization possibilities particularly suited to summarize complex datasets.

Here, we propose to combine SOMs with a clustering approach to break down data complexity and produce simple geographic maps showing catch hotspots, which can indicate sensitive zones in terms of fishery management. To promote this approach, we tested it first on simulated datasets and then on the open-access ICCAT commercial catch database of the tropical tuna fisheries of the Atlantic Ocean. We aimed to detect drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs) catch hotspots of juveniles of two tuna species, bigeye and yellowfin tunas and of the silky shark, a commonly bycaught vulnerable shark species, in tropical tuna purse seine fisheries. Simulations on datasets increasing in complexity (in number, geographic and duration extent of the hotspots and number of species in the analysis) informed us about the method's sensitivity and limits.

Our findings showed that, in the context of multi-specific fisheries, the detection of the hotspot is dependent on a certain level of catch within the hotspot and that adding species to the analysis tended to mask small and short-duration hotspots. Applied to tropical tuna fisheries' data, the method confirmed the empirical knowledge on which first time-area closures were based and provided scientifical support.

All in all, the visual support provided by the method, its interpretability and its potential transferability to other fisheries' systems constitute its main strengths and imply a possible implementation in management decisions; specifically, as a tool to reach agreement between stakeholders in the definition of regulated areas for protecting juveniles of tunas and vulnerable associated species to dFAD practices.