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Analysis of the interaction of fishing gear in Mullus barbatus fisheries of the Western Mediterranean
Author(s) -
Demestre M.,
Sbrana M.,
Alvarez F.,
Sánchez P.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of applied ichthyology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1439-0426
pISSN - 0175-8659
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0426.1997.tb00100.x
Subject(s) - trawling , fishing , fishery , mediterranean climate , biology , range (aeronautics) , mediterranean sea , population , ecology , engineering , demography , sociology , aerospace engineering
The exploitation of Mullus barbatus stocks was assessed in four ports; Porto Santo Stefano in Italy, and Vilanova i la Geltrü, Castelló and Santa Pola in Spain. Virtual population analysis (VPA) by size was carried out using the catch equation. The different types of fishing gear exploiting this species in these ports were taken into consideration. In the Italian port the fisheries employ two trawl gear which exploit a wide range of individuals, although concentration is on adult individuals. In the Spanish ports higher concentrations of immature individuals are exploited by trawl gear, while trammel nets exploit a greater number of adults. Conditions of equilibrium were assumed and the influence of parameter variations on the VPA results was also considered. The results show greater sensitivity to variations of natural mortality (M). Simultaneously, an analysis of yield per recruit (Y/R) was carried out, illustrating that the exploitation level of this resource exceeds its optimum. In addition, changes in the exploitation regime, e.g., variations in the mesh size and the effort of trawling gears were simulated to improve the M. barbatus exploitation pattern in the Western Mediterranean.