Journal Article

Targeted Fishery for Bogue Boops boops (Linnaeus, 1758) Around Sea-Cage Fish Farms in the Turkish Aegean Sea

Aytaç Özgül, Ertosluk, Okan, Akyol, Okan, Ceyhan, Tevfik

2024

Overview

This study investigated artisanal fishing activity near sea cages in Güllük Bay in the southeastern Aegean Sea based on dockside sampling with local fishermen. The daily fishing activity of bogue Boops boops gillnetters was randomly observed in the ports of Göltürkbükü, Gündoğan, Yalıkavak and Torba over two fishing seasons, from November to April 2018 and 2019. A total of 18,163 kg of fish were caught in 147 daily operations. The composition of catches from the bogue gillnet fishery comprised 48 species from 30 families, including both fish and invertebrates. B. boops was the most abundant species with 91.9% of the catch, followed by Diplodus annularis, Scomber colias, Trachurus trachurus, Pagellus acarne and Scomber scombrus. The ratio of total bycatch biomass to commercial target species was 1:0.09. The fork length (FL) and weight of the 536 sampled B. boops ranged between 25.5 ± 0.12 cm and 293.6 ± 3.87 g, respectively. The highest catch per unit effort (CPUE) of B. boops occurred in April and averaged 58.83 ± 11.47 kg/1000 m, likely due to an increased catch during its spawning migration to open sea areas in spring.

• Publisher: De Gruyter Brill Sp. z o.o., Paradigm Publishing Services