What about fishery of sardine Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792) and round sardinella, Sardinella aurita (Valenciennes, 1847) in the western Mediterranean?

Abstract

Abstract The biology and dynamic of sardine Sardina pilchardus and round sardinella Sardinella aurita from the east coast of Algeria, were studied to compensate the lack of data concerning the exploitation of their fisheries in this area. A total of 1146 individuals of S. pilchardus and 1033 individuals of S. aurita individuals sex combined were collected. The von Bertalanffy growth equations were as follows Lt = 21.58 [1-e− 0.39 (t +0.086)] for S. pilchardus and Lt = 26.68 [1-e-0.41 (t + 0.085)] for S. aurita. The lengths at first maturity (Lm50) were 11.61 and 13.54 cm for S. pilchardus and S. aurita respectively. The natural mortalities (M) were 0.46 year− 1 for both species, while those of fishing mortality coefficients (F) were 1.49 year− 1 for S. pilchardus and 1.41 year− 1 for S. aurita. The results of the Virtual Population Analysis (VPA) method and yield per recruit and biomass per recruit showed the existence of an overfishing status for both species. To limit the risk of stock collapse, we suggest adjusting the Fcurrent fishing effort factor to F0.1 (0.35 and 0.40 for S. pilchardus and S. aurita respectively), it should be reduced by 65% for S. pilchardus and by 60% for S. aurita, this would increase by long term exploitable biomasses of both stocks and allow the renewal of the resource.