The Annual Pattern of Condition and Maturity in Bass, <i>Dicentrarchus Labrax</i>, in Waters Around England and Wales

Pawson, M. G.; Pickett, G. D.

doi:10.1017/s0025315400029040

Cited by 48 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Of concern, Catches of sport fishing competitions, Algarve, Portugal 167 however, is the 15-cm size limit allowed in competitions for European sea bass. This is far below the legal minimum landing size for commercial and recreational fisheries and far below the length at first maturity (NW Europe: males, 32-36 cm; females, 42 cm; Pawson and Pickett 1996). Undersized sea breams (Sparidae) are also frequently caught and retained in competitions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catches of the Sport Fishing Competitions Along the Algarve Coast (Portugal): Species, Sizes, Catch Rates, and Trends

Guerreiro¹,

Veiga²,

Erzini³

2011

Acta Icth et Piscat

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Guerreiro A.I., Veiga P., Erzini K. 2011. Catches of the sport fishing competitions along the Algarve Coast (Portugal): species, sizes, catch rates, and trends. Acta Ichthyol. Piscat. 41 (3): 165-169.Background. Stocks of many marine fishes are in decline and a number of studies suggest that for some species the impact of recreational angling may be important. To date, only recreational (leisure) fishing surveys have been conducted in Portugal, with no studies on beach angling competitions, dynamically increasing in number over the past 10 to 20 years. In view of the above, we decided to evaluate the impact of such events on the Algarve coast (southern Portugal) in terms of the abundance, diversity, and respective weight of fish species caught and outline some conservation measures and recommendations for the management of the targeted species. Materials and methods. Participants of 22 angling competitions taking place between February and June 2007 were surveyed. In each competition a random sample of anglers was interviewed, and the specimens caught by each participant were identified, weighed, and measured.Results. Thirteen taxa belonging to eight families were identified, and the most common were: garfish, Belone belone (Linnaeus, 1761); mullets, Mugilidae (not identified); and mackerels, Scomber spp. A total of 563 specimens were sampled, totalling 75.4 kg of weight, with the average catch per angler weighing 0.5 ± 0.05 SE (n = 153) kg. Differences were also observed between the length at first maturity (L 50 ) of the specimens caught and their respective Minimum Landing Size (MLS) and Allowed Minimum Size (AMS), most particularly in the case of the European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), with almost all individuals caught measuring below the speciesspecific L 50 . Analysis of time series of competition results (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009) showed no evidence of a decrease in catches or in mean weight. Conclusion.Based on the results we propose that the AMS for beach angling competitions should be increased to the MLS in order to prevent the capture of juvenile fishes, especially the sea bass. Future studies should address the size selectivity of the hooks used in beach competitions, with a view to the implementation of a minimum hook size for competitions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catches of the Sport Fishing Competitions Along the Algarve Coast (Portugal): Species, Sizes, Catch Rates, and Trends

Guerreiro¹,

Veiga²,

Erzini³

2011

Acta Icth et Piscat

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“…The first question that comes is the representativeness of samplings, as sex ratios can vary between locations and times of the year (Pawson and Pickett 1996). Most of the studies were done with repeated sampling all along the year, and sometimes over several years, thus eliminating the "time of the year" bias.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the studies were done with repeated sampling all along the year, and sometimes over several years, thus eliminating the "time of the year" bias. Capture methods were diverse and included commercial fisheries (Arias 1980;Wassef and El Emary 1989;Pawson and Pickett 1996), research vessels surveys (Pawson and Pickett 1996), rod and line (Kelley 1988;Kennedy and Fitzmaurice 1972;Pawson and Pickett 1996), spear fishing (Barnabé 1973;Kara 1997), gill netting (Kara 1997;Ergene 1999) and fyke netting (Ergene 1999). The homogeneity of the observed results would however rule out a large effect of capture method on the sex ratio.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are sex ratios in wild European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) populations biased?

Vandeputte

Quillet

Chatain

2012

Aquat. Living Resour.

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-Sex ratios in farmed European sea bass are highly biased towards males (75 to 95%), which is problematic for aquaculture. In this mini-review, we re-analyse fisheries literature data about sex ratios in wild sea bass from 13 population samples, representing altogether 4889 individuals covering the major part of the distribution range of the species. We find that as a whole, the sex ratio of wild populations is biased towards females (59.4% females, p < 0.001), but that the sex ratio of the younger fish (<30 cm total length) is balanced (52.0% females, p = 0.15), while the sex ratio of the older fish is heavily biased towards females (69.5% females, p < 0.01). Possible causes of these differences (differential longevity, biased sampling) are discussed. When age-group sex ratios are available (three population samples out of 13), significant variation between age groups appears, part of which is most likely of environmental origin. This study shows that the excess of males in culture is not a characteristic of the species, but rather a consequence of the environments used in culture, interacting with a complex system where both environmental and genetic influences govern sex determination in sea bass.

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“…Only a few studies have been concerned with its ecology (Pickett and Pawson, 1994;Pawson and Pickett, 1996), though knowledge of the feeding ecology of young stages is, for example, necessary to understand mortality within age classes (Arrhenius, 1996). Sea bass is one of the most abundant species in Mont SaintMichel bay (Feunteun and Laaille, 1997), where young ®sh, and especially the young of the current year (referred to here as juveniles), occur frequently at high densities in mud¯ats and in the creeks of vegetated salt marshes (Laaille et al, 1998(Laaille et al, , 2000.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of sheep grazing on juvenile sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax L., in tidal salt marshes

Laffaille¹,

Lefeuvre²,

Feunteun³

2000

Biological Conservation

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The diet of young of the year sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax L., from sheep grazed and ungrazed tidal salt marshes were compared qualitatively and quantitatively in Mont Saint-Michel Bay. In areas without grazing pressure, the vegetation gradient changes from a pioneer Puccinellia maritima dominated community at the tidal¯at boundaries through a Atriplex portulacoides dominated community in the middle of the marsh to a mature Elymus pungens dominated community at the landward edge. The A. portulacoides community is highly productive and provides important quantities of litter which provides a habitat and good supply to substain high densities of the detrivorous amphipod Orchestia gammarellus. In the grazed areas, the vegetation is replaced by P. maritima communities, a low productive grass plant, and food availability and habitat suitability are reduced for O. gammarellus. Juvenile sea bass colonise the salt marsh at¯ood during 43% of the spring tides which inundate the salt marsh creeks. They forage inside the marsh and feed mainly on O. gammarellus in the ungrazed marshes. In grazed areas, this amphipod is replaced by other species and juvenile sea bass consume less food from the marsh. This illustrates a direct eect of a terrestrial herbivore on a coastal food web, and suggests that management of salt marsh is complex and promotion of one component of their biota could involve reductions in other species.

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The Annual Pattern of Condition and Maturity in Bass, Dicentrarchus Labrax, in Waters Around England and Wales

Cited by 48 publications

References 11 publications

Catches of the Sport Fishing Competitions Along the Algarve Coast (Portugal): Species, Sizes, Catch Rates, and Trends

Catches of the Sport Fishing Competitions Along the Algarve Coast (Portugal): Species, Sizes, Catch Rates, and Trends

Are sex ratios in wild European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) populations biased?

Impact of sheep grazing on juvenile sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax L., in tidal salt marshes

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