Catch Composition and Abundance of Shrimp Species in the Bottom Trawl Fishery from Northeast Mediterranean, Türkiye

Abstract

In this study, the catch composition and catch productivity of bottom trawl shrimp fishery in the North East Mediterranean were determined with respect to season, location, depth and distance from the coast for a period of 1 year. The study was carried out along a 200 km transect at five different stations and a total of 40 trawl operations with 153 hours and 2 minutes of active trawling was performed. During the study, a total of 11 shrimp species, six of which have economic value, (Penaeus semisulcatus, Metapenaeus monoceros, Marsupenaeus japonicus, Melicertus kerathurus, Metapenaeus stebbingi, Parapenaeus longirostris, Trachypenaeus curvirostris, Alpheus glaber, Palaemon serratus, Palaemon adspersus, Aegaeon cataphractus) were captured belonging to four families (Penaeidae, Alpheidae, Crangonidae, Palaemonidae). The most abundant species was P. semisulcatus (CPUE: 0.748 kg/h and 19.26 kg/km2) with a catch rate of 50.26%, followed by P. longirostris (35.05%; CPUE: 0.521kg/h and 13.41 kg/km2) and M. monoceros (11.29%; CPUE: 0.168 kg/h and 4.32 kg/km2). Considering the total catch of all shrimp species, the CPUE value was calculated to be 1.49 kg/h and 38.25 kg/km2. Catch composition with respect to distance from the coast indicated that the P. semisulcatus had the highest catch rate (80.53%) within 0-3 mile zone, whereas P. longirostris had the highest catch rate (67.40%) within 3-10 mile zone.

Keywords

• shrimp
• catch composition
• cpue
• northeastern mediterranean