Cefalópodos del Área CECAF (División FAO 34): evolución de las capturas y análisis biológico

Abstract

Since 1963 the Spanish cephalopod-targeted trawl fishery has been developed in the Saharan Bank. This fishery is carried out by freezer trawlers using bottom trawl gear. This fleet operates under Community licences in Guinea Bissau and Mauritanian waters, and lands at the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands). Since the mid-70’s researchers from the Centro Oceanográfico de Canarias (COC), which belongs to the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO) based in Tenerife, perform biological samples and assess the state of the resources of octopus (Octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797), cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis Linnaeus, 1758 and Sepia hierredda Rang, 1835) and squid (Loligo vulgaris Lamarck, 1798). In 2003 the European Basic Data Collection Program (Regulation (EC) 1543/200) was established to carry forward this line of researching. From 2003 to 2009, a total of 1037 octopuses, 5704 cuttlefishes and 7560 squids were sampled under The European Basic Data Collection Program. Maturity stage was determined by macroscopic examination of the gonads. The description of each stage is based on a general scale defined by Dia (1988) except for stage IV, described by Guerra (1975) for octopus; Bakhayokho (1980) for cuttlefish; and Lipinski (1979) for squid. The following table shows a list of the main parameters obtained for each species, and table 1 displays the results of the biological parameters obtained in this study