Stock assessment of Nemipterus japonicus (Bloch, 1791) in Tha-Bawt-Seik coastal area, Dawei, Myanmar

Abstract

The stock assessment of the threadfin beam, Nemipterus japonicus, collected from the Tha-Bawt-Seik of the Andaman Sea in Myanmar were analysed from January to December 2018. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the condition of the N. japonicus population. For all 1866 specimens, the asymptotic length (L∞), growth rate (K) and growth performance index (Ǿ) were 22.05 cm, 1.4 year–1 and 2.833 respectively. There were 4.89 year–1, 2.47 year–1 and 2.41 year–1 for the total mortality rate (Z), natural mortality rate (M) and fishing mortality rate (Z) respectively. The maximum exploitation rate (Emax) was 0.703, while the exploitation rate (Ecurrent) was 0.49. There were two main recruitment pulses in the pattern of continual recruitment. When the dry season began, threadfin beams became one of the principal species in Tha-Bawt-Seik. The outcomes of the study showed that while the N. japonicus stock is currently safe; there are signs of growth overfishing and any rise in the existing pace of exploitation is likely to exacerbate this issue.

Keywords

• Andaman Sea
• exploitation rate
• growth rate
• stock
• threadfin