Longline, trawl, and purse seine in coastal fishing of Tangier port in North-West of Morocco

Abstract

The port of Tangier, overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar and the North Atlantic, has an important geographical strategic position. The coastal fishing sector is a main source for a large group of the region's population. This paper focuses on describing the fishing coastal gear and the available methods known for catching fishes in port Tangier and the components that characterize it (techniques, target species, boats, fishermen). This is done through the analysis of data collected from a survey on the site of the port, which was carried out between May 2018 and August 2018. Costal fishing at the Port of Tangiers is carried out by 206 boats, and is broken down by the type and method of fishing. This fleet mainly targets species of high commercial value. Tangier fishing port registered the landing of more than 55 families and more than 90 species of fishery resources. The most productive nets are the purse seines (surface fish), followed by the trawl net (benthic fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods) and finally longlines (benthic fish and surface fish). This activity ensures the provision of jobs for about 2950 fishermen in this area. The main gear used is longline gear, trawl net, and purse seines net. Keywords: Coastal fishing, Gear, Longline, Port Tangier, Seine nets, Trawl nets