A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE CATCH CHARACTERISTICS OF PURSE-SEINE OPERATING DURING THE DAYTIME IN ABU-QIR AND EL-MEX BAYS, ALEXANDRIA (EGYPT)

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE CATCH
CHARACTERISTICS OF PURSE-SEINE OPERATING DURING
THE DAYTIME IN ABU-QIR AND EL-MEX BAYS,
ALEXANDRIA (EGYPT)
ELSAYED H. KH. AKEL
National Institute of Oceanography & Fisheries, Alex. Egypt.
Keywords: purse-seine, catch analysis, Abu-Qir Bay, El-Mex Bay, Mediterranean Sea.
ABSTRACT
The catch of the purse-seine (operating during the daytime), taken from Abu-Qir Bay
and El-Mex Bay of Alexandria , Egypt during the period from June 2001 to May 2002, was
analysed. Four categories of fishes in Abu-Qir Bay were identified : economic category
(70%), low-valued species (23%), juveniles (6%) and the non-edible species (1%). In ElMex Bay, the catch encountered only three groups: low-valued species (69%), economic
species (17%), and juveniles (14%). Species composition of Abu-Qir Bay Batch showed
the presence of 61 species. Sardine spp:. Sardinella aurita; Sardina pilchardus;
Herklotsichthys punctatus were found to be the most abundant species in the catch (43%);
this was followed by rabbit fish: Siganus rivulatus and Siganus luridus (23%); mullets:
Mugil cephalus; Liza ramada; Liza aurata and sea bass: Dicentrarchus labrax and
Dicentrarchus punctatus constituted about (6%) for each. In El-Mex Bay, species
composition of the catch involved 27 species. Anchovy: Engraulis encrasicholus was found
to be the most dominant one (64%); followed by sardine spp.: S. aurita; S. pilchardus;
Dussumieria acuta; Sardinella maderensis (26%) while the atherinids: Atherina boyeri
amounted to only (2%) of the catch. From the present study, it is obvious that the purseseine operating in Abu-Qir Bay and El-Mex Bay during the daytime have been resulted in
the destruction of the fishing ground of most important economic species by removal of
small and juvenile fishes before attaining their first sexual maturity