Surveys of the Offshore Fisheries Resources of Pakistan – 2010
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FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1065 RAP/C1065 (En) ISSN 2070-6065 SURVEYS OF THE OFFSHORE FISHERIES RESOURCES OF PAKISTAN – 2010 Copies of FAO publications can be requested from: Sales and Marketing Group Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations E-mail: [email protected] Fax: +39 06 57053360 Web site: www.fao.org/icatalog/inter-e.htm FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1065 RAP/C1065 (En) SURVEYS OF THE OFFSHORE FISHERIES RESOURCES OF PAKISTAN – 2010 by L. Paul Fanning FAO Fishery Resources Appraisal in Pakistan project Karachi, Pakistan M. Wasim Khan FAO Fishery Resources Appraisal in Pakistan project Karachi, Pakistan Samina Kidwai National Institute of Oceanography Karachi, Pakistan and Gavin J. Macauley Institute of Marine Research Bergen, Norway FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Karachi, 2011 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of FAO. ISBN 978-92-5-106904-2 All rights reserved. FAO encourages the reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Non-commercial uses will be authorized free of charge, upon request. Reproduction for resale or other commercial purposes, including educational purposes, may incur fees. Applications for permission to reproduce or disseminate FAO copyright materials, and all queries concerning rights and licences, should be addressed by e-mail to: [email protected] or to the Chief, Publishing Policy and Support Branch Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy © FAO 2011 iii PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT This report was prepared during and immediately after the subject surveys were conducted in late 2010. Many of the survey participants contributed to various sections of this report. The authors and other contributors were as indicated below. Paul Fanning (author) FAO Overall editor, Survey narratives and fish catch sections Tariq Hanif MFD Fish catch sections Muhsan Kalhoro MFD Fish catch sections Wasim Khan (author) MFD Survey narratives and fish catch sections Samina Kidwai (author) NIO Oceanography Gavin Macauley (author) IMR Pelagic survey acoustics Magne Olsen CDCF, IMR Pelagic survey acoustics, Pelagic survey oceanography Mohsin Tabrez NIO Oceanography Badar Usmany MFD Taxonomy Thomas Wenneck IMR Acoustics , Demersal survey oceanography Diana Zaera CDCF,IMR Demersal survey fish catch sections, Acoustics, Mapping Fanning L.P., M.W. Khan, S. Kidwai and G.J. Macauley. Surveys of the offshore fisheries resources of Pakistan – 2010. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular. No. 1065. Karachi, FAO. 2011. 87 pp. ABSTRACT In October and November 2010, the R/V Dr. Fridtjof Nansen conducted two offshore fisheries resource surveys in Paksitan’s waters. These included sampling by acoustics, pelagic trawling, demersal trawling and collected a suite of concurrent biological and physical oceanography observations. Preliminary analyses presented in this cruise report include the distribution maps, catch rate estimates and raw abundance information for many stocks of interest to fisheries. Further analysis and comparison with historical data will be provided in later reports. The mesopelagic biomass estimated from these preliminary analyses is substantially lower than in previous surveys and further investigations in this regard are required. Of interest in the overview of some key oceanographic parameters is the presence of an hypoxic layer in deep waters (offshelf) which has been reported in earlier surveys and oceanographic studies. Some evidence of flood-induced productivity was also detected in the near-shelf waters off Sindh. iv v CONTENTS PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT.............................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................................................ iii FIGURES .................................................................................................................................................................vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................. viii LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................ix FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................................................x 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................1 Objectives..................................................................................................................................................................1 Participation ..............................................................................................................................................................1 Overview of activities ...............................................................................................................................................2 2. METHODS ...........................................................................................................................................................3 Fish sampling ............................................................................................................................................................3 Acoustic sampling and analysis ................................................................................................................................4 Acoustic equipment ..............................................................................................................................................4 Design...................................................................................................................................................................4 Allocation of acoustic backscatter to species category .........................................................................................5 Distribution...........................................................................................................................................................7 Estimation of biomass...........................................................................................................................................7 Demersal sampling and analysis ...............................................................................................................................8 Design...................................................................................................................................................................8 Biomass estimation.............................................................................................................................................10 Oceanographic sampling.........................................................................................................................................11 Multibeam bathymetric data collection...................................................................................................................12 3. PELAGIC SURVEY...........................................................................................................................................13 Pelagic survey narrative ..........................................................................................................................................13 Survey effort............................................................................................................................................................13 Results.....................................................................................................................................................................14 Catch rate estimates ............................................................................................................................................14 Distribution.........................................................................................................................................................14 Mesopelagic biomass estimation ........................................................................................................................18 4. DEMERSAL SURVEY......................................................................................................................................20 Narrative..................................................................................................................................................................20