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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on January 17, 2008
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2008 65(2):148-154; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsm189
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© 2008 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Minimum landing size for Northeast Atlantic stocks of deep-water red crab, Chaceon affinis (Milne Edwards and Bouvier, 1894)

Martin Robinson

SHELLTEC Research Centre, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Co. Galway, Ireland

tel: +353 91 742430; fax: +353 91 758412; e-mail: martin.robinson{at}gmit.ie

Robinson, M. 2008. Minimum landing size for Northeast Atlantic stocks of deep-water red crab, Chaceon affinis (Milne Edwards and Bouvier, 1894). – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 148–154.

Annual landings of the deep-water red crab (Chaceon affinis) in the NE Atlantic have fluctuated around 1000 t for much of the past decade, but they dropped significantly in 2006. No EU or National Member State legislation governs the harvest of the species, and because of the on-board processing, it is difficult to set a single minimum landing size (MLS) based on carapace width (CW) alone. As the claws are detached during processing and represent the most valuable component of the catch, a supplementary MLS based on claw length (CL) for onshore inspection and enforcement would seem appropriate. Physiological size-at-maturity and morphometric claw data were used to derive primary (CW) and secondary (CL) MLS. All males and females are mature at 110 and 125 mm CW, respectively, and 50% of females are mature at 109 mm CW. Because of a lack of information relating to the biology, distribution, and fishing mortality of the species, and a doubt as to real landing statistics, a conservative MLS of 120 mm CW and 72 mm CL is suggested, representing the first use of commercial fisheries data to suggest MLS for this otherwise unregulated fishery.

Keywords: Chaceon affinis, deep-water red crab, management, minimum landing size

Received 19 June 2007; accepted 1 December 2007; advance access publication 17 January 2008.


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