Environmental effects on recreational squid jigging fishery catches

Abstract

Experimental fishing sessions simulating the operating procedures of the recreational fishery for the European squid that operates at inshore Palma Bay (Balearic Islands, Spain) were conducted to investigate the effects of environmental variables on squid catches. The catch per unit of effort (cpue) of recreational-like jigging sessions showed a seasonal pattern (higher cpue during colder months). Two alternative hypotheses can explain such a pattern. First, squid could migrate inshore during colder months to seek spatio-temporal windows within which the sea temperature maximize spawning success. Second, the timing of the seasonal reproductive peak and the growth rate of any given cohort would result in a higher percentage of squid whose body size is greater than the gear-specific vulnerability threshold during the colder months. The combination of environmental variables that maximized cpue was a low sea surface temperature, a low windspeed, low atmospheric pressure, and days close to the new moon. A specific period of the day, narrowly around sunset, favoured the catches. Within this narrow period, the sunlight is still sufficient to allow the recreational fishing lures to be effective, and the squid have already shifted to a more active pattern of movement characteristic of the night-time period. © 2012 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.