Птицеводство, рыболовство и науки о дикой природе
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Stock Assessment of Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) from Southern Arabian Gulf, United Arab Emirates

Elsayed Farrag*, Ibrahim Al-Jamali, Carter Subbaih, Mustafa Al-Shaer

The growth, mortality and yield per recruit of the blue swimming crab Portunus pelagicus were examined from southern Arabian Gulf off the United Arab Emirates between January and December 2021. The FiSAT II software was used to perform the estimate of growth, mortality and exploitation rate. In the present study, asymptotic carapace width CW_∞ and growth coefficient K for males were estimated at 17.01 cm, 0.31y^-1 and for females were 18.27 cm and 0.52y^-1. The growth performance index was calculated at 1.95 and 2.24 for males and females. The overall ratio of males to females was obtained at 1.0: 0.91. Annual instantaneous total mortality (Z) by length converted catch curve was estimated at 0.76, 1.51 and 1.53y^-1 for males, females and combined sexes respectively. The mean rate of natural mortality (M) was evaluated at 0.54 y^-1 for males, 0.76y^-1 for females and 0.70y^-1 for combined sexes. The carapace width at first capture was estimated for males and females at 10.66 and 11.26 cm respectively. The fishing mortality rate for combined sexes (F=0.83y^-1) was higher than the precautionary target (F_opt=0.35y^-1 and limit F_limit=0.47y^-1. The carapace width at first sexual maturity for females was estimated at 10.92 cm and was lower than the length at first capture. The recruitment pattern of P. pelagicus was continuous throughout the year with peak in June (14.77%). The exploitation rate (E) was calculated at 0.54 and show slightly fishing pressure on the stock.