Abstract
Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus, L.) is one of the most important commercial species of the northern and central Adriatic Sea, as well as one of the most productive fisheries in the whole Mediterranean. In the Adriatic Sea the stock of anchovy is shared between Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. A joint stock assessment was carried out using catch data from all the fleets for the time interval 1975-2009. Analyses were performed using estimates of natural mortality at age obtained by means of two different methods and two population dynamics methods based on the analysis of catch-at-age data: Laurec-Sheperd virtual population analysis (VPA) and integrated catch-at-age (ICA), both tuned to acoustic estimates of abundance. Gislason’s estimates for natural mortality appeared to be more realistic and were thus preferred for short-lived species. The general trend of biomass and fishing mortality is similar for the two models, highlighting the major collapse of the stock in 1987. Nevertheless, ICA has enough flexibility to combine all the data available without adding too much complexity in comparison with a VPA approach and seems to perform better in terms of the spawning stock biomass/recruitment relationship and diagnostics (i.e. the retrospective pattern). For the stock status, the exploitation rate from ICA is higher than the suggested threshold of 0.4 proposed by Patterson for small pelagic species.
Highlights
FisheryAnchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus L.) is one of the most important commercial species in the Adriatic Sea (Cingolani et al 1996, IREPA 2009), accounting—together with sardine—for a high percentage of the overall fish production of the surrounding countries, mainly Italy and Croatia (FAO 2012)
In the Adriatic Sea the stock of anchovy is shared between Italy, Croatia and Slovenia
Analyses were performed using estimates of natural mortality at age obtained by means of two different methods and two population dynamics methods based on the analysis of catch-at-age data: LaurecSheperd virtual population analysis (VPA) and integrated catch-at-age (ICA), both tuned to acoustic estimates of abundance
Summary
FisheryAnchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus L.) is one of the most important commercial species in the Adriatic Sea (Cingolani et al 1996, IREPA 2009), accounting—together with sardine—for a high percentage of the overall fish production of the surrounding countries, mainly Italy and Croatia (FAO 2012). In Italy anchovy are fished all year round by pelagic trawlers (known in Italy as volante) and in the warm season (late spring, summer and early autumn) by purse seiners (known in Italy as lampara). In Croatia anchovy is fished all year round during the daytime with pelagic trawl-boats in the shallow areas and during the night with purse seine with artificial lights (Tičina 2003); a small number of pelagic trawlers were active in the past, in the most recent years their number has fallen almost to zero. In Slovenia the last two commercial midwater pelagic trawlers stopped working in 2012, and in 2013 only a small fleet of purse seiners was actively operating (Marčeta 2001, Tičina 2003, Santojanni et al 2011)
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