European hake - Gulf of Lions, 2010|
| Marine Resource Fact Sheet |
| | | European hake - Gulf of Lions, 2010 |
 | Merluccius merluccius - Gulf of Lions |
| | Owned by | General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) More |
| | Related observations | Locate in inventory | | | | Species: | | FAO Names : en - European hake, fr - Merlu européen, es - Merluza europea |
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| Geographic extent of European hake - Gulf of Lions
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 | GFCM geographical sub-areas |
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| 7 | Gulf of Lions |
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| | Main Descriptors | Considered a single stock: Biological Stock
Spatial Scale: Sub-Regional
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| Considered a single stock: A group of individuals in a species occupying a well defined spatial range independent of other stocks of the same species. It can be affected by random dispersal movements and directed migrations due to seasonal or reproductive activity. |
| Spatial Scale: Spatial scale contains a standard term such as Global, Regional (e.g. for the whole Atlantic), sub-regional (e.g. for a part of the Atlantic), national, local (for sub-national levels). |
| Considered a management unit: An aquatic resource or fishery is
declared as [Fishery] Management Unit if it is
effectively the focus for the application of selected
management methods and measures, within the broader
framework of a management system. According to the FAO
Glossary for Responsible Fishing, "a Fishery Management
Unit (FMU) is a fishery or a portion of a fishery
identified in a Fishery Management Plan (FMP) relevant
to the FMP's management objectives." FMU's may be
organised around fisheries biological, geographic,
economic, technical, social or ecological dimensions ,
and the makeup and attribute of a fishery management
unit depends mainly on the FMP's management
objectives. |
| Jurisdictional distribution: Jurisdictional qualifier (e.g.
"shared", "shared - highly migratory") of the aquatic
resource related with its spatial distribution. |
| Environmental group: Classification of the aquatic
resource according to the environmental group (e.g.
pelagic invertebrate, or demersal fish) to which the
species belong. |
| | | | | | Habitat and Biology Bottom type: Soft bottom; Hard bottom. Depth zone: Shelf 50 200m; Slope-Upperslope 200-500m. Horizontal distribution: Neritic. Vertical distribution: Demersal/Benthic. Geographical Distribution Jurisdictional distribution: Straddling between High Seas and EEZ Water Area Overview Spatial Scale: Sub-Regional Gulf of LionsGeo References | | Geographic extent of European hake - Gulf of Lions
| GFCM geographical sub-areas | 7: Gulf of Lions |
| | | | | | Other georeferences
| FAO Fishing Statistical Division Areas | 37.1.2: Gulf of Lions |
| | | | | | Intersecting Major FAO areas and LME areas |
The following area codes have been found as intersecting the distribution of European hake - Gulf of Lions Resource Structure Considered a single stock: Aq Res Struct Exploitation Hake, Merluccius merluccius, is one of the most important demersal target species of the commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Lions (GFCM-GSA07). In this area, hake is exploited by French trawlers, French gillnetters, Spanish trawlers and Spanish long-liners. Around 220 boats are involved in this fishery and, according to official statistics, total annual landings for 1998-2010 oscillated around a mean value of 2250 t (1980 t in 2009). The fishing capacity of the GSA07 has shown in these last 10 years a progressive decrease considering the French trawlers. The number of these trawlers decreased by about 30% on the period. Most fleets and catches correspond to French trawlers (44 and 72%, respectively). Trawl catches range between 3 and 92 cm total length (TL), with an average size of 20 cm TL, followed by French gillnetters (~39 and 14% respectively, ranging 13-86 cm TL and average size 39 cm TL), Spanish trawlers (~11 and 8%, respectively, ranging 5-87 cm TL, and average size 25 cm TL), and Spanish long-liners (~6 and 6%, respectively, ranging 23-96 cm TL and average size 54 cm TL). Hake trawl fishery exploits a highly diversified species assemblage: Striped mullet ( Mullus surmuletus), Red mullet ( Mullus barbatus), Angler ( Lophius piscatorius), Black-bellied angler ( Lophius budegassa), European conger ( Conger conger), Poor-cod ( Trisopterus minutus capelanus), Fourspotted megrim ( Lepidorhombus boscii), Soles ( Solea spp.), Horned octopus ( Eledone cirrhosa), squids ( Illex coindetii), Gilthead seabream ( Sparus aurata), European seabass ( Dicentrarchus labrax), Seabreams ( Pagellus spp.), Blue whiting ( Micromesistius poutassou), Tub gurnard ( Chelidonichtys lucerna). Assessment Data The information used for the assessment of the stock consisted of annual size composition of catches (estimated from monthly or quarterly sampling in the main landing ports), official landings and biological parameters estimated from data collected in the GSA07 (2003-2010) by IFREMER for the DCF. These parameters were L-W relationship, sex-ratio and maturity ogive and were computed using inbio (R scripts developed by IEO). The growth coefficient (K) comes from tagging experiments developed by IFREMER in the area (Mellon-Duval et al, 2010). The vector of natural mortality by age was calculated from Caddy´s formula, using the PROBIOM Excel spreadsheet (Abella et al., 1997). Assessment Model Type: Age-structured Extended survivors analysis (XSA) Methodology For the period of the study (1998-2010), the methodology applied was a tuned Virtual Population analysis (VPA), applying the XSA method considering as tuning fleet French MEDITS campaign indices. The software used was FLR (Fisheries Library in R). Results PopulationThe Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB) and Recruitment estimates for 2010 resulted as 1 503 t and 1 307 t, respectively. Fishing mortality ratesF mortalities resulted as: F 2-5 = 1.31, F 0-3 = 1.25 Assessment Model Type: Others Predictive model Yield per Recruit (Y/R) Methodology Y/R analysis was performed for the year 2010. Results Y/R results
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Total |
| Current Y/R |
0.05 |
| Maximum Y/R |
0.10 |
| Y/R 0.1 |
0.09 |
| Fcurrent |
1.43 |
| Fmax |
0.29 |
| F0.1 |
0.19 |
| Current B/R |
0.09 |
| Maximum B/R |
0.78 |
| B/R 0.1 |
1.27 |
Scientific Advice For scientific researchIt is considered necessary to improve national statistics on catches and effort especially for small scale fisheries. We reiterate the importance of VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) as a valuable source of data for having precise information on effort distribution. For management considerationTo reduce growth overfishing Improve the fishing pattern of the trawl to raise the minimum length of catches equal to the minimum legal landing size; Close nursery areas at least temporally (see doc. "Nursery area for hake for the Gulf of Lions" - p33, SAC 2010 report); Reduce the effort of trawl, from reducing time at sea, number of fishing boats, engine power, Bollard pull and/or trawl size; To avoid recruitment overfishing Reduce the effort of longline and gillnets in order to increase (or at least maintain) the SSB; Establish temporal closures for longline and gillnet during the period of maximum spawning (end of autumn and beginning of winter, main peak of spawning period); Freezing of the effort in the Fishery Restricted Area of Gulf of Lions. Biological State and Trend Exploitation state: OverexploitedExploitation rate: High fishing mortality
Abundance level: Low abundance Stock is in overfishing status and low abundance. The stock is characterized by growth overexploitation with periodically higher recruitments (1998, 2002 and 2008) which ensure the sustainability of the stock at a low level of abundance. Source of information Report of the Working Group on Stock Assessment of Demersal Species. FAO-GFCM Chania, Crete (Greece) 24-29 October 2011. 2011 FAO  . |
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