Stock Assessment of Abalone in Kisakata, Akita Prefecture

Abstract

In Kisakata fishing ground the fishermen exploit the stocks of Japanese black abalone Haliotis discus discus and Yezo abalone H. discus hannai. Japanese black abalone is a wild (indigenous) species while Yezo abalone is released. The cohort analysis was applied to catch data from 1985 to 1991. It was found that the size of the stocks had been continuously increasing over the seven years and that the trend was mainly caused by the stocking efficiency of released reared juveniles of Yezo abalone. Petersen’s estimates using tagging experiments showed the similar trend. We discussed the possibility that a number of releases of Yezo abalone would increase the catch level. © 1993, The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. All rights reserved.