Abstract
A stock reduction analysis (SRA) of bigeye croaker Micropogonias megalops was performed based on commercial catch data. SRA solutions were restricted to a 2011 bigeye croaker stock biomass estimate of 14,412 t. The viable solution indicated a reduction in stock of 73.6% from 1983 to 2020 with an initial biomass of 22,186 t. In addition, a possible effect of hyperstability of the stock was evaluated by applying different versions of the Cobb–Douglas catch function. The most probable function based on a multi-model selection procedure was the one wherein the catch does not depend on biomass and is directly proportional to the applied fishing effort of small boats (~7 m) and vessels (~24 m). This situation suggests that in a free access regime, fishing can deplete the resource until it collapses, without observing a significant reduction in its catches until the event is very close.
Highlights
The bigeye croaker Micropogonias megalops is an endemic fish to the Gulf of California that has been subject to commercial fishing since 1991, by artisanal fishing as well as by vessels with trawling equipment that operate in the upper Gulf of California
B1 below 20,000 t, they do not result in a good solution to the catch equations because the sum of the squared error (SSQ) rises considerably
The most probable function based on a multi-model selection procedure was the one wherein the catch does not depend on biomass and is directly proportional to the applied effort of small boats (~7 m) and vessels (~24 m)
Summary
The bigeye croaker Micropogonias megalops is an endemic fish to the Gulf of California that has been subject to commercial fishing since 1991, by artisanal fishing as well as by vessels with trawling equipment that operate in the upper Gulf of California. This species, together with the blue shrimp Penaeus stylirostris, the gulf corvina Cynoscion othonopterus and the Spanish mackerel Scomberomorus sierra ( known as Pacific sierra) constitutes one of the four most important fishery resources of artisanal fisheries in the upper Gulf of California [1,2]. There are no studies on the dynamics of the resources that allow to know the status of the stock
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