Trends in catch-per-unit-effort, stock biomass and recruitment in the North and Northwest Iberian Atlantic Nephrops stocks

Nephrops norvegicus is a burrowing decapod with patchy distribution. In the North and Northwest Iberian shelf and upper slope, it is a by-catch species of the bottom trawl mixed fisheries. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) assesses four Nephrops stocks in the area: Nort...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: González-Herraiz, Isabel, Fariña-Pérez, Celso
Format: article
Publication Date:2003
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/322392
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/322392
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Pesquerías
Centro Oceanográfico de A Coruña
Nephrops norvegicus
landings
CPUE
Long-term trends
stock biomass
recruitment
North and Northwest Iberian Peninsula
Description
Summary:Nephrops norvegicus is a burrowing decapod with patchy distribution. In the North and Northwest Iberian shelf and upper slope, it is a by-catch species of the bottom trawl mixed fisheries. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) assesses four Nephrops stocks in the area: North Portugal, West and North Galicia and Cantabrian Sea. From a relatively buoyant Nephrops fishery in the period 1975–1989, with annual average landings of 1225 t for the entire area, the landings declined substantially to 270 t in 2000. The general trend for the region is a decline of more than 60% in the catch-per-unit-effort in the last decade. These indicators make the status of the Nephrops stocks a matter of concern. In this paper, trends in the time series of Nephrops fishery data are described and evidence from age-based assessment is given of sharp declines in stock biomass and recruitment