Abstract
There is evidence that the European hake is one of the main target species of demersal fisheries in the Western Mediterranean and has been widely exploited for decades; the potential for overfishing is very high. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the stock assessment and the age validation of European hake (Merluccius merluccius Linnaeus, 1758) in the GFCM/GSA 04 (Algerian eastern coast) in order to provide a management strategies and effective control measures. A total of 662 hake specimens were sampled from commercial landings from January 2021 to December 2021. The sex ratio was in favor of females (54.8%) but there were no differences in mean lengths between sexes. The estimated total mortality rate (Z) and the natural mortality (M) were 1.48 year− 1 and 0.41 year− 1, respectively. The estimated instantaneous rate of fishing mortality (F) was calculated as 1.06 years− 1, with an exploitation ratio of 0.72, which suggests that the stock in GSA 04 area could be overexploited (E > 0.5). The fishing mortality rate F = 1.06 is higher than the fishing mortality for maximum sustainable yield (Fmax = 0.43) corresponding to the fisheries mortality rate factor that maximizes equilibrium yield per recruit; hence the hazard ratio of the stock is being overfished. To limit the risk of stock collapse, adjustment of the Fcurrent fishing effort factor to F0.1 (0.29) is essential, it should be reduced by 77% the fishing effort to increase by long term exploitable biomasses of hake stock and allow the renewal of the resource. The findings reported here provide new key instruments for the stock assessment of this species and thus contribute to it conservation.
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Kouadria, S., Tahri, M. Fisheries and stock assessment of the European hake in GSA 04 zone (Algerian eastern coast) - tools for fisheries management and conservation. Biologia 78, 2073–2083 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-023-01320-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-023-01320-x