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Vulnerability of male spider crab Maja brachydactyla (Brachyura: Majidae) to a pot fishery in south-west Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

Edward Fahy  and
Jim Carroll
Edward Fahy*
Affiliation:
Fisheries Science Services Division, Marine Institute, Rinville, Oranmore, Galway, Ireland
Jim Carroll
Affiliation:
Fisheries Science Services Division, Marine Institute, Rinville, Oranmore, Galway, Ireland
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: E. Fahy, Fisheries Science Services Division, Marine Institute, Rinville, Oranmore, GalwayIreland email: edwardfahy@eircom.net
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Abstract

The Magharees fishery (Brandon and Tralee Bays in south-west Ireland) is 495 km2 in extent, the majority of this area ≤20 m in depth. Since 1981 it has been occupied by a directed spider crab fishery yielding in some years all of the national catch of Maja brachydactyla. Maximum recorded landings were 336 t in 1999 and effort has numbered up to 10,000 pots annually. Increasing fishing capacity and declining opportunities have accentuated fishing effort on spider crab. This paper describes a catch census undertaken in the fishing season of March to August inclusive, 2000–2007 and a mark–recapture experiment, 2005–2007. A method of ageing the adult moult by attributing a chronology to the rate of erosion of the claw on the dactyl is introduced. Males migrated longer distances, moved into the fishery on a wider trajectory and demonstrated greater wear on the claw than females. Recapture rate of males was twice that of females. The conduct of the fishery changed in its 26 years in existence. Landings became more concentrated in the earlier months of the year and the recent summer fishery was characterized by fewer male captures. Larger males were quickly removed and none >140 mm carapace length survived in the fishery longer than one year.

Keywords

Maja squinadoMaja brachydactylaspider crab fisheryageingdactylIreland
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 7 , November 2009 , pp. 1353 - 1366
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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