Report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Hakes (Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus), Merluccius senegalensis (Cadenat) and Merluccius cadenati (Doutre), in the Northern Zone of CECAF











Table of Contents


held at

Instituto Español de Oceanografía
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

5-9 June 1978

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Rome, 1978

PROJECT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF FISHERIES IN
THE EASTERN CENTRAL ATLANTIC

CECAF/ECAF SERIES 78/9 (En)


FISHERY COMMITTEE FOR THE EASTERN CENTRAL ATLANTIC

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.


The copyright in this book is vested in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, by any method or process, without written permission from the copyright holder. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction desired, should be addressed to the Director, Publications Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.

© FAO, 1979

This electronic document has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software and careful manual recorrection. Even if the quality of digitalisation is high, the FAO declines all responsibility for any discrepancies that may exist between the present document and its original printed version.


Table of Contents


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1. INTRODUCTION

2. TAXONOMY AND DISTRIBUTION

3. STOCK SEPARATION

4. DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHERIES

4.1 Spain
4.2 Morocco
4.3 Portugal
4.4 USSR

5. MESH REGULATIONS AND MESH SIZE IN USE

6. PROVISION OF DATA

6.1 Catches

6.1.1 Morocco
6.1.2 Spain
6.1.3 Portugal
6.1.4 USSR

6.2 Effort Data

6.2.1 Morocco
6.2.2 Spain
6.2.3 Portugal
6.2.4 USSR

6.3 Length Compositions of the Commercial Catches

7. TRENDS IN LANDINGS

7.1 M. merluccius
7.2 Merluccius spp.

8. INDICES OF ABUNDANCE

8.1 M. merluccius
8.2 Merluccius spp.

9. FISHING EFFORT

9.1 M. merluccius
9.2 Merluccius spp.

10. EFFECT OF FISHING

10.1 M. merluccius
10.2 Merluccius spp.
10.3 Conclusions

11. THE LONG TERM EFFECT OF CHANGES IN MESH SIZE

11.1 M. merluccius
11.2 Merluccius spp.
11.3 Conclusions

12. IMMEDIATE EFFECT OF A CHANGE IN MESH SIZE

13. ESTIMATES OF BIOMASS

14. ACOUSTIC SURVEYS

15. MANAGEMENT ADVICE

15.1 Mesh Sizes
15.2 Fishing Effort

16. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER DATA COLLECTION

REFERENCES

Appendix 1. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Appendix 2. PROGRAMME

Appendix 3. NOTES ON THE ASSESSMENTS

Appendix 4. A REVIEW OF THE STATISTICAL DATA, (LANDINGS AND FISHING EFFORT) FROM THE PORTUGUESE TRAWL FISHERY IN THE CECAF AREA

Appendix 5. ESTIMATION DE LA BIOMASSE DE M. MERLUCCIUS ENTRE LE CAP SPARTER (36° N) ET LE CAP JUBY (28°N) D’APRES LES CAMPAGNES DU CHALUTIER SCIENTIFIQUE “EL IDRISSI”

Appendix 6. LES MERLUS (MERLUCCIUS spp.) DE LA COTE NORD-OUEST DE L’AFRIQUE

Appendix 7. SUMMARY OF SELECTIVITY DATA FOR EUROPEAN HAKE

Appendix 8: ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO ESTIMATING THE EFFECT OF CHANGES IN MESH SIZE