pfa self-sampling report 2015-2017 2018_03... · freezer-trawler vessels from the netherlands, uk,...

REPORT

PFA Self-sampling report 2015-2017

Martin Pastoors

30-4-2018

Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association (PFA) /

Redersvereniging voor de Zeevisserij (RVZ)

Louis Braillelaan 80

2719 EK Zoetermeer

The Netherlands

www.pelagicfish.eu

[email protected]

Please cite as:

Pastoors, M.A. 2018 PFA Self-sampling report 2015-2017. PFA report 2018/03

© 2018 Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association

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Contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 2

2 Overview of self-sampling methodology .............................................. 3

3 Results ................................................................................................ 5

3.1 Vessels, fisheries, trips and catch in all areas .................................... 5

3.2 Fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic (FAO area 27)............................ 11

3.3 Fisheries in west African waters (FAO area 34) ............................... 18

3.4 Fisheries in the South Pacific (FAO area 87) .................................... 24

4 Discussion and conclusions .................................................................30

5 Acknowledgements ............................................................................32

6 More information ..............................................................................32

7 Appendices: overviews by species and area ........................................33

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1 Introduction

The Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association (PFA) is an association that has nine

member companies that together operate 19 (in 2017) freezer trawlers in five

European countries (www.pelagicfish.eu).

In 2015, the PFA has initiated a self-sampling program that expands the ongo-

ing monitoring programs on board of pelagic freezer-trawlers by the special-

ized crew of the vessels. The primary objective of that monitoring program is

to assess the quality of fish. The expansion in the self-sampling program con-

sists of recording of haul information, recording the species compositions per

haul and regularly taking random length-samples from the catch. The self-sam-

pling is carried out by the vessel quality managers on board of the vessels, who

have a long experience in assessing the quality of fish, and by the skippers/of-

ficers with respect to the haul information. The scientific coordination of the

self-sampling program is carried out by Martin Pastoors (PFA chief science of-

ficer) with support of Floor Quirijns (contractor).

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2 Overview of self-sampling methodology

The PFA self-sampling program has been incrementally implemented on

freezer-trawler vessels from the Netherlands, UK, Germany, France and Lithu-

ania during the years 2015-2017.

The self-sampling program is designed in such a way that it follows as closely

as possible the working practices on board of the different vessels and that it

delivers the biological and fisheries information needed for the relevant scien-

tific bodies (e.g. ICES, SPRFMO, CECAF), certification bodies (e.g. MSC) and as

a mechanism of feedback for the participating companies.

An important feature of the PFA self-sampling program is that it is tuned to the

capacity of the vessel-crew to collect certain kinds of data. Depending on the

number of crew and the space available on the vessel, certain types of meas-

urements can or cannot be carried out. That is why the program is essentially

tuned to each vessel separately. And that is also the reason that the totals pre-

sented in this report can be somewhat different dependent on which variable

is used. For example the estimate of total catch is different from the sum of

the catch per species because not all vessels have supplied data on the species

composition of the catch.

The following main elements can be distinguished in the self-sampling proto-

col:

• haul information (date, time, position, weather conditions, environmen-

tal conditions, gear attributed, estimated catch, optionally: species com-

position)

• batch information (total catch per batch=production unit, including vari-

ables like species, average size, average weight, fat content, gonads y/n

and stomach fill)

• mechanisms for linking batch and haul information (essentially a key of

how much of a batch is caught in which of the hauls. There can be multiple

batches in a haul or multiple hauls in a batch)

• length information (length frequency measurements, either by batch or

by haul)

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The self-sampling information is collected using standardized Excel work-

sheets. Each participating vessel will send in the information collected during

a trip by the end of the trip. The data will be checked and added to the data-

base by Floor Quirijns and/or Martin Pastoors, who will also generate stand-

ardized trip reports (using RMarkdown) which will be sent back to the vessel

within one or two days. The compiled data for all vessels is being used for spe-

cific purposes, e.g. reporting to expert groups, addressing specific fishery or

biological questions and supporting detailed biological studies. The PFA pub-

lishes an annual report on the self-sampling program.

Because the self-sampling program has been under development over the

years, different numbers of vessels have been participating in the program

over different years. Results should not be interpreted as a census of the PFA

fleet, but rather as an indicator of relative distributions and samples of catch

and catch compositions.

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3 Results

3.1 Vessels, fisheries, trips and catch in all areas

An overview of all the self-sampling trips in 2015-2017 is shown in Table 3.1.1

and an separate table by large FAO area (North Atlantic 27, West-Africa 34 and

South Pacific 87) is in Table 3.1.2.

An expansion of vessels, trips and catches in the self-sampling program has

taken place between 2015 and 2017, from 135,000 tonnes in 2015 up to

388,000 tonnes in 2017 and from 8 vessels in 2015 up to 15 vessels in 2017

(out of 19 vessels in the fleet).

year nvessels ntrips ndays nhauls catch nlength

------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- --------- ---------

2015 8 43 758 1,727 134,804 122,315

2016 11 98 1,539 4,065 302,089 157,365

2017 15 122 2,037 4,946 388,782 293,673

summed 263 4,334 10,738 825,675 573,353

year catch/trip catch/day catch/haul

------- ------------ ----------- ------------

2015 3,143 177 77

2016 3,083 196 74

2017 3,188 190 78

avg 3,138 188 76

Table 3.1.1: PFA self-sampling summary of the number of days, hauls, trips,

vessels, catch (tonnes), number of fish measured and the average catch rates

(ton/trip, ton/day, ton/haul) by year

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3.1.1.1.1 page break

Summary of sampled trips by FAO area

area year nvessels ntrips ndays nhauls catch nlength

------ ------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- --------- ---------

27 2015 7 34 580 1,349 106,936 114,851

27 2016 10 74 1,124 2,850 251,521 120,531

27 2017 14 98 1,510 3,470 327,455 192,383

------ ------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- --------- ---------

27 (all) 206 3,214 7,669 685,912 427,765

34 2016 3 20 320 1,046 40,283 29,989

34 2017 4 14 250 861 31,674 80,461

------ ------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- --------- ---------

34 (all) 34 570 1,907 71,957 110,450

87 2015 2 9 178 378 27,868 7,464

87 2016 1 4 95 169 10,284 6,845

87 2017 2 10 277 615 29,652 20,829

------ ------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- --------- ---------

87 (all) 23 550 1,162 67,804 35,138

area year catchpertrip catchperday catchperhaul

------ ------- -------------- ------------- --------------

27 2015 3,156 183 78

27 2016 3,399 223 88

27 2017 3,343 216 94

------ ------- -------------- ------------- --------------

27 avg 3,299 207 87

34 2016 2,014 125 38

34 2017 2,262 126 36

------ ------- -------------- ------------- --------------

34 avg 2,138 126 37

87 2015 3,096 156 73

87 2016 2,571 108 60

87 2017 2,965 107 48

------ ------- -------------- ------------- --------------

87 avg 2,877 124 60

Table 3.1.2: PFA self-sampling summary of the number of days, hauls, trips,

vessels, catch (tonnes), number of fish measured and the average catch rates

(ton/trip, ton/day, ton/haul) by large FAO area and year

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Catch by species

Species compositions in self-sampled fisheries were derived from the batch in-

formation or from assessments on the species proportions by haul. Table 3.1.3

summarizes the total catch of the top-25 species for all areas (shown in de-

creasing quantities). Figure 3.1.1 shows the catch composition by year, month

and FAO area. Minor differences may exist with the overall catch (table 3.1.1)

because for some trips the species composition data was not available.

species englishname scientificname 2015 2016 2017 all

--------- -------------------- -------------------------- --------- --------- --------- ---------

her herring Clupea harengus 38,246 90,098 82,739 211,083

mac mackerel Scomber scombrus 27,668 31,126 57,114 115,908

whb blue whiting Micromesistius poutassou 16,501 38,915 49,331 104,748

cjm jack mackerel Trachurus murphyi 27,228 9,304 27,698 64,230

pil pilchard Sardina pilchardus 1,132 27,065 24,918 53,115

hom horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus 9,813 17,083 13,633 40,530

mas chub mackerel Scomber japonicus 801 4,296 4,022 9,119

spr sprat Sprattus sprattus 1,570 139 1,147 2,857

aru greater argentine Argentina silus 1,115 328 757 2,199

ary lesser argentine Argentina sphyraena 1,095 792 220 2,107

saa sardinella (round) Sardinella aurita 0 646 447 1,092

ane anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus 251 322 8 581

reb redfish Sebastes mentella 0 0 460 460

lht largehead hairtail Trichiurus lepturus 0 408 2 410

hke hake Merluccius merluccius 262 81 62 405

boc boarfish Capros aper 181 115 74 370

pok saithe Pollachius virens 149 64 76 288

whg whiting Merlangius merlangus 219 41 21 281

uba blue fathead Cubiceps caeruleus 47 145 85 278

bru rays bream Brama australis 140 14 85 239

bon bonito Sarda sarda 0 114 113 227

had haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus 102 59 11 173

blt bullet tuna Auxis rochei 0 0 135 135

sae sardinella (flat) Sardinella maderensis 0 110 0 110

brb black seabream Spondyliosoma cantharus 13 23 53 89

oth NA 872 387 200 1,459

(all) (all) (all) 127,408 221,674 263,410 612,492

Table 3.1.3: Total catch (tonnes) by species in PFA self-sampled fisheries (all

areas). Top 25 species.

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Self-sampled hauls

An overview of all self-sampled hauls by year for the FAO areas 27, 34 and 87.

Figure 3.1.1: Haul positions in PFA self-sampled fisheries by large FAO area (27

Northeast Atlantic, 34 West Africa and 87 South Pacific).

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Catch by species

Figure 3.1.2: Total catch (tonnes) by month in PFA self-sampled fisheries, plot-

ted by year and FAO area. Colours indicate the different species.

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Length compositions

Length compositions were estimated based on length measurements being

taken on a number of vessels. All length measurements were raised to the total

catch of the vessels and then converted in length proportions by area, species

and year. Length is expressed as total length for areas 27 and 34 and as fork

length for area 87. In cases where standard length has been measured on

board of the vessels, a species-specific length conversion factor was applied to

arrive at the required length unit.

Figure 3.1.3: Overview of relative length compositions for the main target spe-

cies in area 27, 34 and 87 during 2015-17. Note: total length for areas 27 and

34, Fork length for area 87.

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3.2 Fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic (FAO area 27)

For the Northeast Atlantic (FAO area 27) the quarterly distribution of hauls is

shown in figure 3.2.1.


--------- ---------------- ----------------------------- -------- --------- --------- ---------

her herring Clupea harengus 38,246 90,098 82,739 211,083

mac mackerel Scomber scombrus 27,668 30,889 57,114 115,671

whb blue whiting Micromesistius poutassou 16,501 38,915 49,331 104,748

hom horse mackerel Trachurus 9,813 14,981 13,317 38,112

pil pilchard Sardina pilchardus 1,132 5,555 536 7,223

arg argentines Argentina spp 2,210 1,119 977 4,306

spr sprat Sprattus 1,570 139 1,147 2,857

ane anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus 251 318 8 577

reb redfish Sebastes mentella 0 0 460 460

hke hake Merluccius 262 62 62 386

boc boarfish Capros aper 181 107 74 362

pok saithe Pollachius virens 149 64 76 288

whg whiting Merlangius merlangus 219 41 21 281

had haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus 102 59 11 173

cod cod Gadus morhua 61 0 0 61

brb black seabream Spondyliosoma cantharus 13 22 25 60

nop norway pout Trisopterus esmarkii 10 19 3 32

sqr squid Loligo vulgaris 18 1 2 21

squ squid Loliginidae, Ommastrephidae 10 0 7 17

bss seabass Dicentrarchus labrax 3 6 2 11

gur red gurnard Aspitrigla cuculus 4 2 1 7

bft bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus 0 4 0 4

guu tub gurnard Chelidonichthys lucerna 0 1 2 4

bsb black seabass Centropristis striata 0 0 3 3

dgs spurdog Squalus acanthias 0 2 0 2

oth NA NA 11 15 14 39

(all) (all) (all) 98,436 182,421 205,932 486,789

Table 3.2.1: Total catch (tonnes) by species in PFA self-sampled fisheries in FAO

area 27. Top 10 species.

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Sampled hauls by year and quarter

Figure 3.2.1: Quarterly haul positions in PFA self-sampled fisheries in FAO area

27 (Northeast Atlantic).

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Catch rates for the main target species

Figure 3.2.2: Catch rate (ton/haul) of the main target species in PFA self-sam-

pled fisheries in FAO area 27 (Northeast Atlantic): herring, horse mackerel,

mackerel, blue whiting.

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Catch rates for the lesser target species

Figure 3.2.3: Catch rate (ton/hour) of the lesser target species in PFA self-sam-

pled fisheries in FAO area 27 (Northeast Atlantic): anchovy, silver smelts (arg),

pilchards and sprat.

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Average surface temperature by quarter and by rectangle.

Figure 3.2.4: Mean surface temperature measured by PFA self-sampling fishing

vessels in FAO area 27 (Northeast Atlantic).

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Average fishing depth.

Figure 3.2.5: Mean fishing depth (m)

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Length compositions

Figure 3.2.6: Overview of relative length compositions of main target species in

the different divisions in area 27 during 2015-17.

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3.3 Fisheries in west African waters (FAO area 34)

species englishname scientificname 2016 2017 all

--------- ---------------------- ------------------------------ -------- -------- --------

pil pilchard Sardina pilchardus 21,510 24,382 45,891

mas chub mackerel Scomber japonicus 3,617 2,238 5,855

hom horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus 2,102 316 2,418

saa sardinella (round) Sardinella aurita 646 447 1,092

lht largehead hairtail Trichiurus lepturus 408 2 410

mac mackerel Scomber scombrus 237 0 237

bon bonito Sarda sarda 114 113 227

blt bullet tuna Auxis rochei 0 135 135

sae sardinella (flat) Sardinella maderensis 110 0 110

sns longspine snipefish Macroramphosus scolopax 3 77 81

fri frigate tuna Auxis thazard 67 0 68

gbr rubberlip grunt Plectorhinchus mediterraneus 59 0 59

cut hairtails Trichiuridae 52 0 52

poa pomfret Brama brama 25 21 46

dea angolan dentex Dentex angolensis 7 29 36

bsf black scabbardfish Aphanopus carbo 30 0 30

brb black seabream Spondyliosoma cantharus 1 28 29

dig NA Diplodus argenteus 0 29 29

frz tunas Auxis thazard, A. rochei 22 0 22

hke hake Merluccius merluccius 19 0 19

pac pandora Pagellus erythrinus 13 0 13

lee leerfish Lichia amia 11 2 13

muf flathead grey mullet Mugil cephalus 7 2 9

boc boarfish Capros aper 8 0 8

dex dentex Dentex spp 8 0 8

oth NA NA 19 5 23

(all) (all) (all) 29,095 27,825 56,920

Table 3.3.1: Total catch (tonnes) by species in PFA self-sampled fisheries in area

34 (CECAF)

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Overview of fishing hauls

Figure 3.3.1: Haul locations by year and quarter in PFA self-sampled fisheries in

area 34 (CECAF)

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pled fisheries in FAO area 34 (West Africa): horse mackerel, chub mackerel, pil-

chards, sardinella. Year 2015 was not sampled.

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vessels in FAO area 34 (West Africa).

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Overview of mean fishing depth.


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Length compositions



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3.4 Fisheries in the South Pacific (FAO area 87)


--------- -------------------- -------------------- -------- -------- -------- --------

cjm jack mackerel Trachurus murphyi 27,228 9,304 27,698 64,230

mas chub mackerel Scomber japonicus 801 679 1,784 3,264

uba blue fathead Cubiceps caeruleus 47 145 85 278

bru rays bream Brama australis 140 14 85 239

slt slender tuna Allothunnus fallai 29 0 0 29

poa pomfret Brama brama 0 6 0 6

gis jumbo flying squid Dosidicus gigas 0 0 0 0

oth 727 10 0 736

(all) (all) (all) 28,972 10,159 29,652 68,783

Table 3.4.1: Total catch (tonnes) by species in PFA self-sampled fisheries in area

87 (South Pacific)

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Figure 3.4.1: Haul locations by year and quarter in PFA self-sampled fisheries in

area 87 (South Pacific)

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pled fisheries in FAO area 87 (South Pacific).

| 27




vessels in FAO area 87 (South Pacific).

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Overview of mean fishing depth.


| 29


Length compositions



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4 Discussion and conclusions

This report mostly consists of the presentation of approach and generic results

of the self-sampling program initiated by the PFA. The self-sampling program

has clearly developed over the course of the 3 years and has achieved a sub-

stantial level of standardization and harmonization. However, given the differ-

ence between different fisheries and seasons, a full harmonization of

methodologies has not yet been achieved. In the design of the program, the

intention was to stay as close as possible to the standard operations that are

carried out on board of the vessels. That is why the biological measurements

(e.g. mean weight, mean length, fat content etc) are taken from the routine

sampling that is carried out on the vessels. What we added to the on-going

activities was a standardization of the recording of haul information, a meth-

odology to assess the species composition per haul and the measurement of

the individual lengths of a subsample of fish (by haul or by production unit

‘batch’). Thus, the self-sampling program is requiring extra efforts on behalf of

the crews of the participating vessels but we have tried to make that extra ef-

fort as small as possible.

By the end of 2017, 15 vessels were participating in the PFA self-sampling pro-

gram in one way or another. This is about 80% of the freezer-trawler fleet. Alt-

hough the program does not consist of a random selection of vessels – because

the instructions to the vessel benefit from a continued application of data col-

lection on the participating vessels – the overall fishing pattern does appear to

represent the fisheries of the PFA vessels. However, at the time of writing this

report, it is not yet possible to make an overall comparison between the

catches of all the PFA vessels and the catches of the sub-set of self-sampling

vessels.

As a first test of consistency, length distribution for herring by division and ves-

sel were compared in figure 4.1. This indicates that there is good consistency

between vessels, although some checks are still required on the measurement

type (total length, standard length) for some vessels.

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Figure 4.1: Checking consistency of herring length distributions by year and di-

vision Each coloured line indicates the relative length-frequency of a vessel.

We believe that the direct communication of the results of the self-sampling

program to the participating crews and vessels is a key element of the pro-

gram. Maintaining engagement with the fishermen at sea is an essential req-

uisite for the program to work. Direct communication involves an almost

instantaneous return of the trip report after finishing a trip. By investing in

standardized procedures, the response time back to the vessel is usually within

one day.

Overall the self-sampling program demonstrates the feasibility of self-docu-

menting catches of this fleet and providing links between environmental pa-

rameters and catches.

| 32

5 Acknowledgements

The skippers, officers and the quality managers of many of the PFA vessels

have put in a lot of effort to make the PFA the self-sampling work. Without

their efforts, there would be no self-sampling.

6 More information

Please contact Martin Pastoors ([email protected]) if you would have

any questions on the PFA self-sampling program or the specific results pre-

sented here.

mailto:[email protected]

| 33

7 Appendices: overviews by species and area

Herring (Clupea harengus) in area 27

year nvessels ntrips ndays nhauls catch nlen

------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- --------- ---------

2015 5 20 199 483 39,015 37,131

2016 9 48 426 1,056 102,697 37,634

2017 12 51 461 1,158 99,547 59,628

(all) . 119 1,086 2,697 241,259 134,393

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Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) in area 27


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- --------- --------

2015 6 28 282 564 26,910 9,486

2016 9 61 430 761 35,433 7,853

2017 12 73 588 1,069 64,892 19,301

(all) . 162 1,300 2,394 127,235 36,640

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7.1.1.1.2 Page break

Horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) in area 27


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- -------- --------

2015 6 21 174 326 10,646 12,127

2016 9 47 338 608 23,103 21,366

2017 12 46 300 557 21,662 15,761

(all) . 114 812 1,491 55,411 49,254

| 36

7.1.1.1.3 Page break

Blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) in area 27


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- --------- ---------

2015 5 18 154 313 15,550 34,477

2016 9 24 260 598 48,814 43,296

2017 8 34 390 845 78,807 91,469

(all) . 76 804 1,756 143,171 169,242

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Argentines/silversmelts (Argentina spp.) in area 27


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- ------- --------

2015 3 5 52 112 2,673 12,067

2016 5 8 61 122 2,079 0

2017 5 8 68 117 2,596 799

(all) . 21 181 351 7,348 12,866

| 38


Boarfish (Capros aper) in area 27


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- ------- -------

2015 2 6 24 50 275 0

2016 5 7 35 68 289 202

2017 5 11 59 105 253 1,024

(all) . 24 118 223 817 1,226

| 39


Hake (Merluccius merluccius) in area 27


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- ------- ------

2015 5 13 91 171 398 155

2016 6 12 68 100 287 47

2017 7 12 42 58 125 17

(all) . 37 201 329 810 219

| 40


Sardine/Pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) in area 27

| 41


Sprat (Sprattus sprattus) in area 27


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- ------- -------

2015 3 6 21 39 1,828 0

2016 4 7 17 36 1,110 156

2017 4 6 17 42 1,448 4,131

(all) . 19 55 117 4,386 4,287

| 42


Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) in area 27


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- ------- -------

2015 5 6 15 29 299 2,906

2016 4 6 24 40 478 1,088

2017 2 2 4 6 48 14

(all) . 14 43 75 825 4,008

| 43


Sardine/Pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) in area 34


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- -------- --------

2016 3 18 239 699 25,523 20,131

2017 4 14 214 678 24,733 52,430

(all) . 32 453 1,377 50,256 72,561

| 44


Chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) in area 34


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- ------- --------

2016 3 17 246 622 5,678 5,969

2017 4 13 208 494 4,026 13,935

(all) . 30 454 1,116 9,704 19,904

| 45


Horse mackerel (Trachurus spp.) in area 34


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- ------- -------

2016 3 17 192 460 2,228 1,718

2017 2 10 123 226 1,031 4,640

(all) . 27 315 686 3,259 6,358

| 46


Sardinella (round) (Sardinella aurita) in area 34


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- ------- -------

2016 2 12 66 155 666 1,021

2017 4 14 114 239 819 3,220

(all) . 26 180 394 1,485 4,241

| 47


Jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi) in area 87


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- -------- --------

2015 2 9 167 336 26,122 7,381

2016 1 4 86 152 9,431 6,042

2017 2 10 263 549 27,652 19,631

(all) . 23 516 1,037 63,205 33,054

| 48


Chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) in area 87


------- ---------- -------- ------- -------- ------- -------

2015 2 7 102 171 787 0

2016 1 4 67 116 673 562

2017 2 10 220 390 1,836 1,014

(all) . 21 389 677 3,296 1,576

pfa self-sampling report 2015-2017 2018_03... · freezer-trawler vessels from the netherlands, uk,...

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