Report of the fao EastMed support to the fishing trials carried out off the south Lebanese coasts
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Lebanese coastal habitats are suffering from over-pressure from fishing activities being exposed at the same time to different sources of pollution. In order to evaluate the potentiality of offshore fishing grounds for local artisanal fishery, we carried out a short survey in the area between Tyre and Naqoura (South Lebanon), using both monofilament gillnets to target hake (Merluccius merluccius) and Spanish traps designed to catch the striped soldier shrimp (Plesionika edwa rdsii). A total of 11 hauls, 7 with gillnets and 4 with traps were carried out in spring 2012, between 8 and 420 m depth. The fish and shrimp specimens caught were measured (total length TL and carapace length CL) sexed, weighted and maturity stage recorded. A total of 34 species were caught in the gillnet hauls. In the offshore sampling stations, the hake was the most abundant species in the catch with CPUE up to 6.6 kg/km net day. Hake specimens ranged between 25.5 and 57.5 cm with a high occurrence of mature females. The traps for the soldier shrimps returned mean CPUEs of 210-310 g/trap/day higher of those obtained in other sectors of the Western Mediterranean. The composition of the catch showed large differences according to the depth: the higher abundance of large ovigerous females was observed between 200 and 300 m depth. On deeper depths (400-420 m) the catch was almost composed by males and immature females, while the smallest immature spe cimens were caught in the haul carried out between 100 and 150 m depth. The results of the survey, even if preliminary, showed the occurrence of potentially exploitable resources on the Lebanese upper slope. Further surveys are required to gather quantitative data on the spatio-temporal distribution of hake and striped soldier shrimp off-shore the Lebanese coasts and to identify the more suitable fishing periods and areas.