Stock assessment of small pelagic fishes caught by ring net fishery in the Camotes Sea, Central Visayas, Philippines (2003 - 2012) / Bruna T. Abrenica and three others

Includes bibliographical references

An analysis of the ten-year data on catch, effort, and length frequency of small pelagic caught from ring net fishery in the Camotes Sea was made. Length frequency data were used to estimate growth, mortality (total, natural, and fishing mortalities) and exploitation levels using the FAO-ICLARM Fish Stock Assessment Tools (FISAT) program developed by FAO/ICLARM. Generally, the sizes of the major species caught from ring net fishery are smaller than the maximum size they can attain and were harvested before reaching maturity lengths. The probability of capture at L50, however, was higher in 2003-2012 than in 1983-1987 assessment. Analysis of the recruitment pattern in the Camotes Sea reveals a dual recruitment mode per year starting from April to June which conforms to the findings of Jabat and Dalzell (1988) of which bimodal pattern of recruitment was observed for most of the small pelagic species in the catch of the ring net fishery from the Camotes Sea and in the Philippines in general. Exploitation rate (E=F/Z) estimates of three dominant pelagic species, Decapterus macrosoma (L∞=27.56 and present E=0.71), Selar crumenophthalmus (L∞=30.03 cm and present E=0.68), and Decapterus kurroides (L∞= 41.64 and present E=0.51) revealed they are vulnerable to ring net fishery as exhibited by high E values exceeding the 0.5 threshold. The present exploitation levels suggest growth overfishing of these pelagic species which will eventually lead to unsustainable ring net fishery in the Camotes Sea.

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