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Sardine - Southern Adriatic Sea
Fact Sheet Title  Fact Sheet
Stock status report 2011
Sardine - Southern Adriatic Sea
Fact Sheet Citation  
Sardina pilchardus - Southern Adriatic Sea
Owned byGeneral Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) – ownership
Monitoring Range Max2011. Monitoring Evolution: Sardine - Adriatic Sea
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ident Blockident Blockdisplay tree map
 
Species List:
Species Ref: en - European pilchard(=Sardine), fr - Sardine commune, es - Sardina europea, ar - سردين أوروبا, zh - 沙丁鱼, ru - Сардина европейская
ident Block Sardine - Southern Adriatic Sea
Aq Res
Biological Stock: Yes         Value: Sub-Regional
Reference year: 2010
 
 
Aq Res State Trend
Aq Res State Trend
Aq Res State Trend Aq Res State Trend
Aq Res State TrendModerate fishingModerate fishing mortality
Aq Res State TrendLow abundanceLow abundance
Aq Res State Trend
Aq Res State TrendModerately exploited
Habitat Bio
Climatic Zone: Temperate.   Bottom Type: Unspecified.   Depth Zone: Unspecified.   Horizontal Dist: Neritic; Littoral.   Vertical Dist: Pelagic.  

Geo Dist
Geo Dist: Straddling between High Seas and EEZ

Water Area Overview
Spatial Scale: Sub-Regional


Southern Adriatic Sea
Water Area Overview
Aq Res Struct
Biological Stock: Yes
Exploit
 

Italy

Sardine (Sardina pilchardus) is exploited by pelagic trawl, purse seine and to a lower level by bottom trawl (bycatch of small pelagics). Highest landings in weight are those of pelagic trawling followed by purse seine. Fishing is carried out five days a week. Exploitation is mainly based on age classes 1 and 2. Purse seiners during most of the fishing season operate in GSA17 (Southern Adriatic Sea). Pelagic trawlers fishing mainly small individuals (bianchetto) are no longer allowed to operate. From official data, the pelagic trawl and purse seine fleet of the geographical sub-area 18 (South-Western Adriatic Sea) is made up by 41 boats, but not all of them are operating all over the year.

Montenegro

Since 2004 there was no commercial catching of small pelagic fish in Montenegro so it wasn’t possible to estimate biomass or MSY from commercial landings data. At present time, there is only one active vessel (purse seine) that is exploiting these resources in Montenegro but the catches are poor, probably because of the lack of experience of the crew and some technical problems. Even when catches are accomplished, there is a big problem in its sale because of unorganized market. Sardine is targeted mostly by small-scale fisheries. Fishing grounds are located along the coast, and also in the Boka Kotorska Bay. In small-scale fishery almost all types of nets are used (gillnet, purse seines, trammel net etc. and long lines). With this type of fishery, a lot of economically important fishes are caught but there are no precise data about their amounts.

Albania

At present there are 4 pelagic vessels in Albania, which are active for 3 - 5 months during the year. There are three main exploitation areas: Shengjin, Durres and Valona. The catch goes to market or is used by the local conservation industry. There are three conservation industries in Shengjin; most of the product for these industries is imported.
Bio Assess
 
Data

Italian official commercial landings come from (1987-2010). Sardine biomass was assessed by means of acoustic methodology, in the framework of MEDIAS survey and AdriaMed projects in both sides of GSA18. Survey period was the month of July. Biomass estimate is derived from the elaboration of acoustic data logged at three frequencies (38, 120 and 200 kHz) to calculate raw density of small pelagic fish in the study area converted into biomass per species on the base of percentage in weight of the different species and their mean size from the outcome of pelagic trawls made during the survey. Biomass per age class is also estimated using age length keys derived by biological samples collected during the survey.
Assess Models
Type:  Biomass-aggregated
Acoustic Biomass estimates
Methodology

Direct method.
Results

Western GSA18

The average value of sardine biomass density estimations for the studied period (1987-2010) is 16.8 t/nm2. Sardine stock presents strong fluctuations in the first years of the studied period until the peak in 1996 (72.9 t/nm2), after which we assist to a sudden decline with minor fluctuations around the mean value of the entire period. After that sardine showed very low levels of biomass; even if in the last 5 years there was a recovery, current biomass level is slightly below the mean value of the series. In 2010 sardine density biomass was 10.9 t/nm2, equal to 27 359 t for an area of 2 510 nm2 (from the coastline to the isobath of 200 m).

Eastern GSA18

Apart from the first surveys that took place in Montenegro waters only, the results of two surveys covering the whole area (Montenegro and Albania) are available by now. While in 2008 sardine biomass was 91 211 t, in 2010 it resulted 43 727 t in an area of 2 597 nm2 (from the coastline to the isobath of 200 m); sardine stock resulted half the quantity of two years before.
Results

Sardine stock in GSA18 slightly decreased compared to 2008-2009 levels in the Western side. The biomass in the Western side is at a rather low level looking at the historical series but fishing effort is also very low in this area. The stock could be considered moderately exploited. For what concerns the Eastern side, even if sardine biomass showed a decrease compared to 2008, the fishing effort is very low here and again the stock could be considered moderately exploited.
Sci Advice

For scientific research

There is the need to keep investigation of all GSA18 by acoustic surveys and also the need to try to improve the quality and availability of landings data.

For management consideration

Eastern GSA18

Due to the fact that there is a lack of consistent fishery effort here the stock could be considered moderately exploited. In any case if an increase in fishing effort is foreseen in eastern GSA18 for a precautionary approach it has to be introduced slowly and step by step, also because biomass estimations through acoustics indicated a decrease for sardine stock in 2010.

Western GSA18

Sardine is targeted mainly by purse seiners and pelagic trawls; fishing effort is bigger in the Western than in the Eastern side. Biomass in the Eestern side is at a rather low level looking at the historical series; the fishery effort is not entirely directed in GSA18 and fishing pressure is rather low. The stock could be considered moderately exploited.
Sources
 
Report of the Working Group on Stock Assessment of Small Pelagic Species. FAO-GFCM Chania, Crete (Greece) 24-29 October 2011. 2011 FAO Click to openhttp://151.1.154.86/GfcmWebSite/SAC/SCSA/WG_Small_Pelagics/2011/WGSA_Small-Pelagic-Greece-Report.pdf
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