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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access published online on August 12, 2009
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil, doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsp215
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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

Growth of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) in the Gulf of Lions based on conventional tagging

Capucine Mellon-Duval1, Hélène de Pontual2, Luisa Métral1 and Loic Quemener3

1 Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale, Ifremer, Laboratoire Ressources Halieutiques, Avenue Jean Monnet, BP 171, 34203 Sète Cedex, France
2 Ifremer, Département des Sciences et Technologies Halieutiques, BP 70, F-29280 Plouzané, France
3 Ifremer, Laboratoire de Technologie des Systèmes Instrumentaux, BP 70, F-29280 Plouzané, France

Correspondence to C. Mellon-Duval: tel: +33 4 99 57 32 47; fax: +33 4 99 57 32 95; e-mail: capucine.mellon{at}ifremer.fr.

Mellon-Duval, C., de Pontual, H., Métral, L., and Quemener, L. 2010. Growth of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) in the Gulf of Lions based on conventional tagging. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 000–000.

Growth of European hake was estimated from the results of a conventional tagging study in the Gulf of Lions, the first tagging experiment to have been undertaken on the species in Mediterranean waters. In all, 4277 hake 15–40 cm long were tagged and released on the inshore fishing grounds during spring 2006. The overall recapture rate was 6.5% and times-at-liberty ranged from 1 to 717 d. Growth rate in hake varied with size and sex. The estimated growth parameter (von Bertalanffy k) was estimated as double previously published values based on size frequency distribution in the area. Compared with recent growth parameters derived from the tagging experiments in the Bay of Biscay, k was estimated to be slightly lower in the Gulf of Lions. With this faster growth, hake would mature earlier than previously thought: at age 2 for both sexes, instead of at age 3 or 4 as currently accepted for the Mediterranean. Growth rate by sex decreased to a similar level once fish had attained sexual maturity.

Keywords: age estimation, European hake, growth, Mediterranean, tagging

Received 27 November 2008; accepted 1 July 2009.


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