Length-weight relationships of 4 coral-reef fish species encountered in Gilbert Islands coastal artisanal fisheries

Length-weight relationships of 4 coral-reef fish species regularly encountered in artisanal coastal fisheries across 5 atolls of the Gilbert Islands, Kiribati, were obtained. The data were collected through creel surveys undertaken randomly over a period of 20-100 days each year between 2013 and 2020. The main fishing methods used were gillnetting (minimum legal mesh size of 63.5 mm), handlining and spearfishing. Fish were weighed using a digital scale calibrated to +/- 1-5 g and measured on a flat one-meter ruler delineated in 5 mm increments. Parameters a and b extracted from the general form of the equation describing the relationship between length and weight (W = aL(b)), associated 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) and correlation coefficients (r(2)) are presented here.