Elasmobranches Results from Spanish Discard Sampling Programme

Abstract

A discard Elasmobranches species composition estimates for the Spanish bottom otter and pair trawl fleets operating in the Northeast Atlantic ICES Subareas VI, VII, VIII and North IX are presented. Information has been obtained from the “Spanish Discard Sampling Programme” carried out by the IEO. Time series provide information on discarded catch (in weight and number) and length distributions since 2003 to 2009. Eighteen species were selected in order to show the most important ones occurring in Spanish discards. Trip was the sampling unit, being raised to fleet level using fishing effort as auxiliary variable. Discard estimates for these species show high betweenyears variation, exceeding 50% CV in all cases. Further exploratory data analysis was carried for the four most discarded species.