To obtain the exploitation rate of branquillos of each size in the sweeping trammel net fishery, analyses were made with data on the ratio of catch to fished population size and the length composition of the commercial catch in Wakasa Bay from 1961 to 1970. As the sweeping trammel net has mesh selectivity for branquillos, the exploitation rate fi for length li was approximated by f0Si where f0 is the rate for the peak of the selectivity curve and Si the relative efficiency for li. Denoting the relative fish number of li in the commercial catch by ni, a theoretical relation of catch C to population size P is presented by C/P=f0∑Wini/ ∑Wi(ni/si), where Wi is the body weight at li. The values of f0 estimated by this expression showed apparently an exponential pattern in relation to fishing effort and gave the gear efficiency 6.2×10-4 boat-day-1, being in agree-ment with that obtained by the other method. Further, it was found that a yearly variation in availability affected the estimation of the rate to some degree.
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