Length distribution, gonad maturity level, and catchable size of fish caught around FADs in Ternate Sea

Abstract

Pelagic fishery business in Ternate Sea are mainly based on FADs fishing operations. Increase of intensive fishing activities will also increase the pressures on local pelagic fish resources of Ternate Sea in the future. So far, there has been limited scientific information related to the fish caught by local fishers. The aim of the study was to investigate length distribution, gonad maturity level (GML), and catchable size of fishes caught around FADs. The research was conducted in August 2020 in Ternate. The research method was a survey research by collecting samples of fish caught from gill nets and hand lines for total 30 fishing trips. The study results showed that the catch consisted of mackerel scads and yellow scads. The mackerel scads caught by gill nets were between 13-26 cm in size and dominated by the 19-20 cm size class, while fishes sizes caught by hand line were between 14-27 cm which were dominated by the 18-19 cm size class. Yellow scads caught with both gill nets and handlines showed the same length range of 12-23 cm, which was dominated by the size class of 18-19 cm. Mackerel scads caught with gill nets and handlines were dominated by fish in GML II (47%) followed by GML III (32%). GML of yellow scads caught with gill nets was dominated by GML III by 75%, while for fishes caught by hand line the percentage of GML III is 68%. The mackerel scads caught with gill nets and handlines were dominated by the non-catchable size category (100% for gill nets and 98.79% for handlines). On the other hand, all yellow scads caught with both gill nets and handlines are entirely (100%) of catchable size.