Status of marine fisheries resources in Myanmar waters: Estimates from bottom trawl survey

Abstract

Sixteen survey operations in the waters of Myanmar were conducted by the research vessel MV SEAFDEC 2 during February to March 2007. After 15 h 40 min of overall towing time, a total of 1,434.4 kg of catch was classified into 113 fish species and 8 groups of invertebrates. Brushtooth lizardfish (Saurida undosquamis) was the most prevalent fish species captured (20.1% by weight). Among commercial invertebrates, loliginid squid (Loligo spp.) was the most abundant representing 48.9% by weight. The median total catch per unit effort (CpUE) was 74.0 kg hr^-1, comprising fish CpUE of 63.4 kg hr^-1 and invertebrate CpUE of 14.9 kg hr^-1. The survey operations, according to the depth and total catch, could be separated into three clusters. The catch per unit area (CpUA) from each operation, estimated from the swept area, ranged from 1,541.0 to 9,684.5 kg nM^-2, which gave a total CpUA of 45,567.6 kg nM^-2 from an overall research area of 13,800 nM².