Deep Sea Fisheries in Mersin Bay, Turkey, Eastern Mediterranean: Diversity and Abundance of Shrimps and Benthic Fish Fauna

Abstract

This study was carried out by trawling at depths between 300-601 m in the Mersin Bay (Eastern Mediterranean) between May and June 2014. Seven shrimp species (Aristaeomorpha foliacea, Aristeus antennatus, Parapenaeus longirostris, Plesionika edwardsii, Plesionika martia, Pasiphae sivado and Pontocaris lacazei) were collected as a result of ten trawl operations with a commercial bottom trawl. The most abundant species were P. longirostris (52.06%), A. foliacea (35.64%) and P. edwardsii (9.50%), representing 97.20% of all captured shrimps. The catch per unit effort (CPUE) ranged from 3.094 kg/h to 9.251 kg/h, with an average value of 5.44 +/- 2.01 kg/h for shrimps. A total of 37 fish species (28 teleosts and nine elasmobranchs) were captured. The prevailing fish species in catches were Chlorophthalmus agassizi, Merluccius merluccius and Etmopterus spinax in terms of biomass and Helicolenus dactylopterus, Hoplostethus mediterraneus, Trachurus trachurus and Lepidopus caudatus in terms of abundance. Seventeen or 45.95% of the captured fish species were with commercial value, while the remaining 20 (54.05%) consisted of discard fishes.