The importance of cephalopods to trawl fisheries in the western Mediterranean

Abstract

The aim of the study was to define the commercial importance of cephalopods caught by trawlers from five Italian and Spanish Mediterranean ports. From summer 1995 to spring 1996, samples of the catches of trawlers were taken on board. The type of fishing activity was recorded and data were collected from at least three commercial hauls for each port, season and bathymetric stratum (<150 m, 150–350 m and >350 m). The species composition and yield of the retained and discarded portions of the catch were noted for each port. From these data the commercial importance of each species was evaluated. Cephalopods were commercially important particularly in the shallower bathymetric stratum (<150 m), where they constituted 8.2–30.0% of the total commercially retained catch. Discarding of cephalopods was minimal by mass in all bathymetric strata, only 0.06–1.69% of the total catch or 0.10–5.23% of the total discarded catch. However, in terms of number of species, the discarded component was notable.