Abstract
Seagrass meadows are a crucial habitat for numerous fish species on nearshore waters, many of commercial interest. To determine the fishery economic value of the Cymodocea nodosa seagrass meadows, we conducted 288 underwater visual census of the ichthyofauna at 3 seagrass meadows of Gran Canaria Island during 2011. Abundance data (nº of individuals) and sizes (total length in cm) of fishery species were converted in biomasses (gr) through the length-weight equations; then, biomasses were converted in economic values utilizing the current market price (€ kg-1). The total fish biomass recorded was 907.6 kg. Fishery biomass was 894.55 kg. The relative fishery biomass was 310 kg ha-1 year-1, with a total economic value of 1,690 € ha-1 year-1. Pelagic species recorded 17,045 individuals, with a biomass of 215.53 kg ha-1 year-1 and economic value of 991.02 € ha-1 year-1. Epibenthic and benthic species recorded 3,488 individuals with a biomass of 95.08 kg ha-1 year-1 and economic value of 699.16 € ha-1 year-1. The economic value of the fishery stocks of C. nodosa seagrass meadows was relatively high when comparing with other areas of the world.
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