Age, growth, mortality, and exploitation rate of blueline snapper, Lutjanus coeruleolineatus (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Lutjanidae), from Dhofar Governorate, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

The blueline snapper, Lutjanus coeruleolineatus (Rüppell, 1838), is a significant commercial fish species harvested from the traditional fishery in the Sultanate of Oman. Deficient data on this species, however, make the management strategies challenging, especially in fisheries ecology. A total of 978 specimens were obtained from Dhofar Governorate off the coast of the Arabian Sea during the period between February 2015 and March 2016. In total, 296 sectioned otoliths were analyzed and growth was estimated from non-seasonal growth by using von Bertalanffy method. The parameters of von Bertalanffy growth function, total mortality (Z), natural mortality (M), fishing mortality (F), and exploitation rate (E) were determined and compared with those for Lutjanidae fishes elsewhere. The age structure of male fishes was between 1 and 14 years for males while the age of females ranged from 1 to 18 years. Growth rate (K) was 0.21 y–1 and 0.16 y–1 for males and females, respectively. The hypothetical length of female (L∞ = 46 cm) was relatively higher than that of male (L∞ = 42 cm). The natural mortality (M) was 0.296, total mortality (Z) was 0.372, fishing mortality was 0.076, and exploitation rate (E) was estimated as 0.2. The presently reported study is conducted to examine this fish in relation to growth parameters by analyzing otolith structure. The results of the presently reported study will contribute towards planning the regional fishery management policies in Oman.

Caribbean red snapper fishing performance indicators in Brazilian amazon shelf: Is it the beginning of the end of a fishing system?

“…The depletion of fish stocks worldwide and concerns about overexploitation have fueled an ongoing debate about the current state and prospects of global fisheries, associated threats to marine biodiversity, and declining yields Available in for human consumption [ 1 ]. In the context of global fisheries, Lutjanids, also commonly known as snapper, have been the target of studies that demonstrate the vulnerability of this taxa and the traditionality of their catches, associated with economic and cultural issues [ 2 , 3 ]. Currently, management approaches have aimed to reduce fishing pressure and recover depleted stocks to biomass and exploitation rates that allow maximum sustainable yield [ 4 , 5 ].…”

Age and growth estimates from three hard parts of the spotted catfish, Arius maculatus (Actinopterygii: Siluriformes: Ariidae), in Songkhla Lake, Thailand’s largest natural lake

“…In older fish (i.e., beyond 3 years), the higher ages estimated from otoliths could be because the spine nucleus of many fish species is reabsorbed and replaced by a hole (i.e., vascularization), which eliminates or obscures the first annulus, causing underestimation of age from spines (Drew et al 2006;Khan et al 2011). For this reason, together with the greater consistency in aging among the three readers, otoliths were selected for growth estimation, similar to several other studies (e.g., Khan et al 2011;Zhu et al 2017;Almamari et al 2021;Gebremedhin et al 2021) that compare ages from various hard parts.…”