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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2009 66(4):617-622; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsp066
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© 2009 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Estimates of batch fecundity and spawning fraction for the southern stock of horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) in ICES Division IXa

Patrícia Gonçalves, Ana Maria Costa and Alberto G. Murta

Instituto de Investigação das Pescas e do Mar (INRB/L-IPIMAR), Avenida de Brasília, 1449-006 Lisboa, Portugal

Correspondence to P. Gonçalves: tel: +351 21 3027119; fax: +351 21 3015948; e-mail: patricia{at}ipimar.pt.

Gonçalves, P., Costa, A. M., and Murta, A. G. 2009. Estimates of batch fecundity, and spawning fraction for the southern stock of horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) in ICES Division IXa. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 617–622.

Since 1995 the annual egg production method has been applied triennially to the southern stock of horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) in the Northeast Atlantic (ICES Division IXa). This method assumes that fecundity is determinate, but increasing evidence indicates that horse mackerel are indeterminate spawners. The daily egg production method (DEPM) does not rely on the assumption of determinate fecundity, making it the appropriate method for this species. Therefore, we reanalysed samples collected from previous surveys (2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007) to obtain estimates for batch fecundity and spawning fraction, which are important DEPM parameters. The estimates of batch fecundity are around 200 oocytes g–1 of female (total ovary-free weight). Several criteria were used to estimate spawning fraction (migratory nucleus stage, hydrated oocytes, and post-ovulatory follicles) and all showed the same trend among years, varying between 0.10 and 0.30 d–1. The estimates were significantly different among methods, but those differences were similar across surveys, indicating that a consistent bias would be reflected in the final spawning-stock biomass (SSB) estimates obtained from the DEPM. Until further information is available regarding the accuracy of the criteria used to estimate spawning fraction, the southern horse mackerel SSB estimates from the DEPM should only be taken as indicative of trends rather than measures of absolute abundance.

Keywords: egg production methods, fecundity, horse mackerel, indeterminate spawner, spawning fraction

Received 11 March 2008; accepted 22 December 2008.


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