Striped venus clam (Chamelea gallina Linnaeus, 1758) fishery in the southern Black Sea coast: What does a fisherman's logbook tell?

Abstract

Striped venus clam fishing has been carried out in the Black Sea coasts of Türkiye for a long time about 30 fishing vessel. In this fishery, which is maintained with hydraulic dredges, it cannot be said that administrative legislation has been fully developed. It is not entirely clear on what basis the fishing quota is in the fishery bans that change and develop day by day. Further standardization is required for selectivity of sieves. In this study, data covering 4 fishing seasons of a fishing vessel were standardized and processed. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) in terms of kilogram/minutes was calculated. Fishing activities according to season were carried out at Şile stations in 2017-2018, and in Sakarya in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, at Şile in the last season of 2020-2021. It was found out that the CPUE data was in a continuous downward trend within each season and in the following seasons. This situation reveals the necessity of questioning and rethinking the current daily catch quota (10 tons per day). In addition, the high proportion of waste and small-sized individuals in marketed catch is a sign of a selectivity problem. Therefore, stock determination, selectivity and daily catch quota applications of striped venus clam fishery should be rearranged.