Fish Assemblages of the Bottom Trawl Fishery off Mostaganem, the Gulf of Arzew, Algeria, SW Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Several Mediterranean fisheries are experiencing flaws in the application of the management system based on input control, including Algeria, where the state of fisheries and stocks remain unclear. This paper focused on the characterization of the catches from bottom trawling by professional fishing vessels in the Mostaganem fishery (West of Algeria). Catch data were collected on board between 2017 and 2020 in two different fishing areas between isobaths 30 and 100 meters in depth. Out of a total of 87 species caught, discards represented a greater variety of species (74) than landings (57). Quantitatively, the landing weights were estimated at 7.8 tons, while the discard weights were lower, accounting for 1.8 tons. Between the two fishing areas, a significant difference was detected in the composition of discards and landings, while for the weights, the two areas were similar. Generally, the Mostaganem fishery is similar to other bottom trawl Mediterranean fisheries both for target and discard species. Otherwise, this research highlighted the existence of an uncontrolled black market, which sustains the practice of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, and potentially increases the rate of overexploitation.