Fishery Interactions Between Long-finned Squid (Loligo pealei) and Butterfish (Peprilus triacanthus) off the Northeast USA

Anne M. Lange and Gordon T. Waring

Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Chesapeake Bay Research and Monitoring
580 Taylor Avenue, Annapolis, Maryland 21401, USA

Source - Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science, Volume 12: 49-62
ISSN-0250-6408

 

Lange, A.M. and Waring, G.T. 1992. Fishery Interactions Between Long-finned Squid (Loligo pealei) and Butterfish (Peprilus triacanthus) off the Northeast USA. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci. 12: 49-62. https://doi.org/10.2960/J.v12.a6

 

The domestic butterfish (Peprilus triacanthus) fishery off the Northeast USA has increased in importance in recent years, to the extent that the quantity allocated to foreign countries fishing within USA waters has been decreased to by-catch levels. This restriction resulted in closure of a portion of the foreign squid fishery in 1985, when the by-catch quota for butterfish was exceeded. This analysis is designed to determine co-occurrence between long-finned squid (Loligo pealei) and butterfish particularly in directed fisheries for each species with a view that areal, diel, and/or seasonal regulations of these fisheries may be feasible to reduce the potential adverse effects of high by-catch rates.

Squid and butterfish exhibited high degrees of overlap in temperature and depth preferences as indicated by seasonal and spatial distribution data from research and fishery sources. Commercial fishery data, however, suggested that by-catch of butterfish in the directed squid fishery can be maintained at relatively low levels (<=6%), when the fishery was prosecuted offshore during the winter. The domestic USA fishery, operating with effort directed at either species at various times of the year, has not been limited as to by-catch of either species. If a need develops, it is likely that seasonal and areal management measures could result in significant reductions in the by-catch of either species.

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Language - English
Publisher - Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), Dartmouth, N.S., Canada
Publication Date - January 1992
Publication Type - Journal Article

Citation: Lange, A.M. and Waring, G.T. 1992. Fishery Interactions Between Long-finned Squid (Loligo pealei) and Butterfish (Peprilus triacanthus) off the Northeast USA. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci. 12: 49-62. https://doi.org/10.2960/J.v12.a6