Variations in year-class strength and estimates of the catchability coefficient of yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, in the Eastern Pacific Ocean

ENGLISH: Year-class composition of catch, virtual population size and yearclass strength were determined from serial samples of size composition of catches and catch records. Murphy's Solution to the catch equation, which is free from the effects caused by changes in fishing pressure, was used to estimate year-class strength, i.e. the total population of fish age 3/4 years. The resultant estimates indicated that the X55, X56, X57, X62 and X63 year classes were above average and the X58, X59, X60, X61 and X64 year classes were below average. The year-class designation refers to the year of actual entry or presumed year of entry into the commercial fishery (at approximately 1 year of age). The strongest and poorest year classes were the X57 and X61 classes, respectively. The ratio of the strongest to the weakest year class was 2.6. This amount of variation is small compared to that found for other species of fish. It was found that the relationship between stock size and yearclass strength is of no value in predicting year-class strength. As a by-product of the analysis, estimates of the catchability coefficients (qN) of the age groups in the fishery were obtained, These estimates were found to vary with age and time. Age-two fish apparently showed the greatest vulnerability to fishing gear, followed by ages three and one, respectively. The average estimate of the catchability coefficient in weight was calculated and found to compare favorably with Schaefer's estimate. The influence of sea-surface water temperature upon year-class strength was investigated to determine whether the latter can be predicted from a knowledge of sea-surface temperatures prevailing during and following spawning. No correlation was evident. SPANISH: La composición de la clase anual en la captura, el tamaño de la población virtual y la fuerza de clase anual, fueron determinados según una serie de muestras de la composición de tamaño de las capturas y de los registros de captura. La Solución de Murphy de la ecuación de captura, que está libre de los efectos causados por los cambios de la presión de pesca, fue usada para estimar la fuerza de la clase anual, i.e. la población total de peces de 3/4 años. Las estimaciones resultantes indican que las clases anuales X55, X56, X57, X62 y X63 fueron superiores al promedio y que las clases anuales X58, X59, X60, X61 y X64 fueron inferiores al promedio. La designación de la clase anual se refiere al año actual de entrada o al año supuesto de entrada en la pesca comercial (aproximadamente a la edad de 1 año). Las clases anuales más fuertes y más pobres fueron la X57 y X61 respectivamente. La razón de la clase anual más fuerte en relación a la más débil fue 2.6. Esta cantidad de variación es pequeña comparada con la encontrada para otras especies de peces. Se encontró que la relación entre en tamaño del stock y la fuerza de la clase anual no tiene valor en predecir la fuerza de la clase anual. Se obtuvieron estimaciones de los coeficientes de capturabilidad (qN) de los grupos de edad en la pesquería como un producto derivado del análisis. Se encontraron que estas estimaciones variaron con la edad y tiempo. Los peces de edad dos aparentemente presentaron la vulnerabilidad más grande en relación al arte pesquero, seguidos por las edades tres y una, respectivamente. La estimación promedio del coeficiente de capturabilidad en peso fue calculada y se encontró que podía compararse favorablemente con la estimación de Schaefer. La influencia de la temperatura del agua superficial del mar sobre la fuerza de la clase anual fue investigada para determinar si se podía predecir esta última según el conocimíento de las temperaturas superficiales del mar prevalecientes durante el desove y después de éste. No hubo correlación evidente. (PDF contains 44 pages.)

Burrowing behaviour of signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana), in the River Great Ouse, England

Observations were made on crayfish burrows in five locations on the Great Ouse River. The burrow densities and the relative abundance of crayfish were observed. Also, laboratory experiments were carried out in order to study the characteristics and mechanisms of burrowing.

The home range of the signal crayfish in a British lowland river

The signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana), a native of north-western North America, is now a common resident in some British fresh waters following its introduction to England in 1976 (Lowery & Holdich 1988). In 1984, signal crayfish were introduced into the River Great Ouse, the major lowland river in southern central England, where they have established a large breeding population. This study examines two sites near Thornborough Weir. For the measurement and description of home range a new eletronic microchip system and a modified capture-mark-recapture method were employed. Signal crayfish were marked or tagged to see if they gradually moved away from their burrows. This method proved to be successful for estimating population densities when a section of river is divided into several equidistant linear ”locations”.

The current distribution of signal and native crayfish in the Broadmead Brook, Wiltshire

Signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) have existed in the upper reaches of Broadmead Brook in Wiltshire since 200 individuals were introduced at West Kington in 1981. The population has expanded upstream and downstream since this introduction, however, giving rise to concerns that it may potentially threaten the native crayfish population further downstream. Signal crayfish can act as a vector of crayfish plague - a disease caused by the fungus Aphanomyces astaci Schikora which results in almost complete mortality to the native, white-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes. The native crayfish in Broadmead Brook have not yet succumbed to crayfish plague and are currently free of the disease. However, as signal crayfish appear to out-compete the native species, the native population could still be under threat. In this article, we highlight the findings of previous crayfish surveys on Broadmead Brook and describe work undertaken in summer 2001 to map the current distribution of native and signal crayfish. Finally, options for controlling the spread of signal crayfish are discussed.

Comparison of echogram measurements against data expectations and assumptions for distinguishing seafloor substrates

Defining types of seafloor substrate and relating them to the distribution of fish and invertebrates is an important but difficult goal. An examination of the processing steps of a commercial acoustics analyzing software program, as well as the data values produced by the proprietary first echo measurements, revealed potential benef its and drawbacks for distinguishing acoustically distinct seafloor substrates. The positive aspects were convenient processing steps such as gain adjustment, accurate bottom picking, ease of bad data exclusion, and the ability to average across successive pings in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. A noteworthy drawback with the processing was the potential for accidental inclusion of a second echo as if it were part of the first echo. Detailed examination of the echogram measurements quantified the amount of collinearity, revealed the lack of standardization (subtraction of mean, division by standard deviation) before principal components analysis (PCA), and showed correlations of individual echogram measurements with depth and seafloor slope. Despite the facility of the software, these previously unknown processing pitfalls and echogram measurement characteristics may have created data artifacts that generated user-derived substrate classifications, rather than actual seafloor substrate types.

Age and growth estimates of the thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata) in the western Gulf of Maine

The northwest Atlantic population of thorny skates (Amblyraja radiata) inhabits an area that ranges from Greenland and Hudson Bay, Canada, to South Carolina. Despite such a wide range, very little is known about most aspects of the biology of this species. Recent stock assessment studies in the northeast United States indicate that the biomass of the thorny skate is below the threshold levels mandated by the Sustainable Fisheries Act. In order to gain insight into the life history of this skate, we estimated age and growth for thorny skates, using vertebral band counts from 224 individuals ranging in size from 29 to 105 cm total length (TL). Age bias plots and the coefficient of variation indicated that our aging method represents a nonbiased and precise approach for the age assessment of A. radiata. Marginal increments were significantly different between months (Kruskal-Wallis P<0.001); a distinct trend of increasing monthly increment growth began in August. Age-at-length data were used to determine the von Bertalanffy growth parameters for this population: L∞ = 127 cm (TL) and k= 0.11 for males; L∞ = 120 cm (TL) and k= 0.13 for females. The oldest age estimates obtained for the thorny skate were 16 years for both males and females, which corresponded to total lengths of 103 cm and 105 cm, respectively.

Estimation of fishing mortality and migration coefficient of the fishery of juvenile Macrobrachium rosenbergii from Kalu River in Maharashtra

The freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii breeds in estuaries and the juveniles after completion of their larval stage start their upward migration towards rivers. It is at this stage fishing of juveniles takes place in river mouths. Kalu River near Titwala, in Maharashtra is estimated based on data presented by Indulkar and Shirgur (1995) for 1991 and 1992 fishing seasons. The fishing mortality was estimated to be 1.50 and 1.28 for a fishing season of 3 months in 1991 and 1992 respectively, while the migration coefficient was computed to be 3.53 during the fishing season. As the average exploitation rate during the study period was only 0.24, the juveniles are not heavily fished and there is a scope for almost doubling the present catch to about 4 million seeds per fishing season.

Effect of hanging coefficient on the efficiency of frame net

Comparative fishing experiments with frame nets of 0.4 and 0.5 hanging coefficients were conducted. Results indicate that net with hanging coefficient of 0.4 as more effective for better catch.

Solid loss and weight gain in prawns during storage in ice

Loss of solids from and gain in weight of meat of whole prawn and prawn meat stored in ice has been studied to explain the mechanism of solid loss. Two stages are identified in this phenomenon. In the first stage water is absorbed without loss of solids resulting in a maximum increase in weight. In the second stage both solids and water are lost resulting in gradual decrease in weight from the maximum reached but not reaching the original weight. It is inferred that whole prawns stored in ice up to two days give the maximum peeled yield without loss of nutrients and at the same time making the peeling process easier.