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European hake - Strait of Sicily
Fact Sheet Title  Fact Sheet
Stock status report 2021
European hake - Strait of Sicily
Fact Sheet Citation  
Merluccius merluccius - Strait of Sicily (GSAs 12-16)
Owned byGeneral Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) – ownership
Monitoring Range Min2011. Monitoring Evolution: European hake - Sicilian Channel
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Species List:
Species Ref: en - European hake, fr - Merlu européen, es - Merluza europea, ru - Мерлуза восточноатлантическая
ident Block European hake - Strait of Sicily
Aq Res
Biological Stock: No         Value: Sub-Regional
Management unit: Yes        Reference year: 2019
 
 
Aq Res State Trend
Aq Res State Trend
Aq Res State Trend Aq Res State Trend
Aq Res State TrendIn overexploitation (F/Fref = 1.72)Not applicable
Aq Res State TrendOverexploited (B/Btarget = 0.68)Not applicable
Aq Res State Trend
Aq Res State TrendOverfished

In overexploitation and overexploited.
[The GFCM methodology to provide stock status and management advice is described in the Appendix F of the Sixteenth Session of the Scientific Advisory Committee Report. See the Bibliography section.]
Habitat Bio
Climatic Zone: Temperate.   Bottom Type: Soft bottom; Hard bottom.   Depth Zone: Shelf (50 m - 200 m); Slope (200 m - 1000 m).   Horizontal Dist: Neritic.   Vertical Dist: Demersal/Benthic.  

Geo Dist
Geo Dist: Shared between nations

Water Area Overview
Spatial Scale: Sub-Regional

Water Area Overview
Aq Res Struct
Biological Stock: No


Stock assessment in the GFCM area of application is often conducted by management units, based on GSAs. This method does not ensure that the whole stock is assessed, since stocks may cover several different management units. In some cases, when there is scientific evidence of a stock spreading through different GSAs, as well as information on species from different GSAs, existing information is combined across GSAs. This is then defined as a “joint stock assessment of a shared stock”. The GFCM recommends that when scientific evidence of shared stocks exists, joint stock assessments should be attempted. A number of activities aimed at achieving a better definition of stock boundaries are currently being conducted at the GFCM level. [The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries, 2016]
[European hake - Strait of Sicily is a shared stock and a joint stock assessment was conducted]
Exploit
 

In the Strait of Sicily European hake is fished by six fishing fleets: Italian coastal trawlers, Italian distant trawlers, Tunisian trawlers, Maltese trawlers, and Tunisian and Italian artisanal vessels. Mean annual landings of European hake for 2016-2019 were about 850 tonnes from Italian and Maltese trawlers and about 1 500 tonnes from Tunisian trawlers. European hake is the main commercial bycatch species of deep-water shrimp fisheries and a target species for vessels using longlines and gillnets. Trawlers catching European hake exploit a highly diversified species assemblages, the main other commercial species being deep-water rose shrimp (generally the main target species), striped mullet and red mullet. Size structures of European hake catches range between 4 cm and 72 cm total length (TL) for the Italian-Maltese trawler, 6-68 cm TL for the Tunisian trawler and 10-64 cm TL for the Italian-Tunisian passive gear.
Bio Assess
 
Data

Stock abundance indices were available from the MEDITS survey carried out in GSA 16 and conducted mainly in the third quarter of the year. Data on biomass index and length composition are available from 1994 to 2019. Moreover, the same parameters of the benchmark model were used.
Assess Models
Type:  Age-structured
SS3

The assessment was performed through the SS3 model.
Results

The final results of the model were: current F (0.50, estimated as the F1-6 in the last year of the time series, 2019) is higher than FMSY indicating that European hake stock in GSAs 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 is over-exploited (F/FMSY = 1.72). Moreover, the model estimates a SSB (2020, that corresponds to 1 January) of 4 744 tonnes.
Sci Advice

Reduce fishing mortality.
Management
Management unit: Yes
Sources
 
FAO. 2021. General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean. Report of the twenty-second session of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Fisheries, online, 22–25 June 2021. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report No. 1347. Rome.  Click to openhttps://www.fao.org/3/cb7622en/cb7622en.pdf
Report of the Working Group on Stock Assessment of Demersal Species (WGSAD). Online, 18–23 January 2021.  Click to openhttps://www.fao.org/gfcm/technical-meetings/detail/en/c/1412431/
Bibliography
 
FAO. 2020. The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries 2020. General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean. Rome.  Click to openhttps://www.fao.org/3/cb2427en/cb2427en.pdf
FAO. 2016. The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries. General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean. Rome, Italy.  Click to openhttps://www.fao.org/3/i5496e/i5496e.pdf
FAO General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean/Commission générale des pêches pour la Méditerranée. Report of the sixteenth session of the Scientific Advisory Committee. St. Julian’s, Malta, 17–20 March 2014/Rapport de la seizième session du Comité scientifique consultatif. Saint Julien, Malte, Malte, 17-20 mars 2014. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report/FAO Rapport sur les pêches et l’aquaculture. No. R1102. Rome. 2015. 250 pp.  Click to openhttps://www.fao.org/3/i4381b/i4381b.pdf
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