Stock structure of the blackbelly rosefish in the mid-North Atlantic (Azores archipelago)
Régis
V.
Santos1, 2, 3*,
Ana
M.
Novoa-Pabon2, 4,
Wendell
M.
Silva1, 2, 3,
Hélder
M.
Silva1, 2, 3, 4 and
Mário
R.
Pinho1, 2, 3, 4
-
1
Instituto de Investigação Marinha (IMAR), Portugal
-
2
Independent researcher, Portugal
-
3
Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Portugal
-
4
University of the Azores, Portugal
Blackbelly rosefish (Helicolenus dactylopterus) is one of the most important species of the demersal/deep-water assemblages fished in the mid-North Atlantic (Azores archipelago). It presents a relatively sedentary behaviour, supporting the possibility of the existence of local populations constituting different management stocks in the Azores. However, it was not possible until now to define if the Azorean component of the population can be considered as a discrete fishery management unit (FMU). The stock structure of this species remains poorly understood in the Azores region. Consequently, there is no analytical assessment for this resource, being this species currently managed according to a precautionary approach, meaning it is managed by default through the limitation of the blackspot seabream Pagellus bogaraveo fishery. In this study, we summarized the detailed information on catch, fork length, weight, sex, maturity, and tagging from targeted surveys in the Azores waters, complemented by fishery data, over the past c. 25 years. This study results from a recommendation of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) working group on the biology and assessment of deep-sea fisheries resources (WGDEEP), with the objective of examining the population structure of H. dactylopterus in the Azores archipelago based on all available data to test the hypothesis that the stock of this species in the ICES Subarea 10a2 represents a FMU. Results are presented and possible assumptions and strategies for the assessment are discussed.
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the Regional Government of the Azores under the DEMERSAIS project. RS was funded by the IMAR Instituto do Mar, through a Post-doc fellowship (ref. IMAR/DEMERSAIS/002-2018). WS was funded by the IMAR Instituto do Mar, through a scholarship (ref. IMAR/UNI/MAR/04292/2019 MARE/001-2019). AN-P was funded by an FCT Ph.D. fellowship (ref. SFRH/BD/124720/2016). The authors thank all who participated in field surveys and sampling processing onboard the R/V "Arquipélago".
Keywords:
Helicolenus dactylopterus,
Commercial fish,
population structure,
assessment,
Management,
deep-sea
Conference:
XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
ECOLOGY AND LIFE CYCLES
Citation:
Santos
RV,
Novoa-Pabon
AM,
Silva
WM,
Silva
HM and
Pinho
MR
(2019). Stock structure of the blackbelly rosefish in the mid-North Atlantic (Azores archipelago).
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XVI European Congress of Ichthyology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00009
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Received:
07 May 2019;
Published Online:
14 Aug 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Régis V Santos, Instituto de Investigação Marinha (IMAR), Horta, Portugal, regisvinicius@gmail.com