Indicators of fishing pressure in the deepsea snapper fishery of the Kingdom of Tonga

Abstract

An examination was made of data on the length and species composition of the commercial deepsea snapper fishery of the Kingdom of Tonga in order to determine possible use of such information in the determination ofstatus of exploitation. Six major species were used for the analysis--Pristipomoides filamentosus, Etelis coruscans, P. flavipinnis, E. carbunculus, Epinephelus morrhua and E. septembasciatus . Although catch and effort data do not indicate overexploitation of the fishery, the size differences observed for P. filamentosus between northern and southern seamounts suggests that these stocks are responding to fishing pressure. It is suggested that in theabsence of detailed catch/effort data, reductions in size and changes in species composition may be useful indicators of overexploitation.