Impact of the closed season on a short mackerel fishery in the Inner Gulf of Thailand | |
| Author | Thitipon Cheumankong |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AQ-16-01 |
| Subject(s) | Mackerels--Thailand, Gulf of Fish and fisheries--Thailand, Gulf of |
| Note | A th esis submitted in partial fulfill ment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Aquaculture and Aquatic Resource s Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. AQ-16-01 |
| Abstract | In 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative legislated the closed area in the Inner Gulf of Thailand during 1st June - 31st July which was effective during 2014 – 2016. The three - year trial closed area aimed to preserve sub - adult fis hes, particularly short mackerel, which were reported that they were caught during the proposed period in the Inner Gulf of Thailand. The short mackerel is one of the most important species in terms of catch amount and economic value. The overall objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of this closed season regulation on the short mackerel resource. Catch per unit effort (CPUE), species composition and size of short mackerel were collected from Thai purse seine (TPS) fishing vessels landi ng at five fishing ports along the Inner Gulf of Thailand. Fishing ground was gathered by interviewing captain or fishing master and collecting from Port - in Port - out Control Centers. Time period of data collection were divided into three periods in 2016, t he last years of the regulation, i.e., before closed season (April - May), first week after closed season (1 - 7 August) and after closed season (August – September, excluding 1 - 7 August). Results of the closed season in 2014 – 2015 from secondary data were also used to synthesize the impact of the closed season. The results showed that the fishing ground was found intensively in the near shore area throughout the study period while the fishing ground was slightly found in the middle of the Inner Gulf of Tha iland. During the first week after closed area, the fishing ground was mostly found in the closed area. The average CPUE of each period was 1,409.09, 2,514.69 and 829.17 kilogram /day respectively. During before closed season, the highest species composit ion was yellowstripe scad, 27.87% of the total catch followed by shrimp scad 19.31% and neritic tunas 13.87% (kawakawa 10.54%, frigate tuna 2.99% and longtail tuna 0.25%) respectively while short mackerel was slightly found at 7.04%. For the first week aft er closed area, the highest composition shifted to ponyfishes made up 29.89% of the total catch followed by goldstripe sardinella 16.61% and chacunda gizzard shad 16.19% respectively while short mackerel was rarely found at 0.59%. After that, the yellowstr ipe scad showed the highest composition at 26.97% of the total catch followed by chacunda gizzard shad 15.96% and bigeye ilisha 14.09% respectively while short mackerel was found only 0.10%. The average length of short mackerel was 14.69, 16.70 and 15.63 cm during the three periods respectively. The comparison between the short mackerel caught by TPS and its report ed smallest maturity size (14.00 cm) found that most of them was larger than its reported smallest maturity size, 57.99%, 93.08% and 100.00% dur ing the three periods respectively |
| Year | 2016 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. AQ-16-01 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources Management (AQ) |
| Chairperson(s) | Yakupitiyage, Amararatne |
| Examination Committee(s) | Salin, K. R.;Pavarot Noranarttragoon |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | AIT Fellowship;Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives ( MOAC ) Thailand |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2016 |