Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) Fishery in the Moroccan Mediterranean Sea: Nominal, Effective Fishing Effort and Catch per Unit Effort

The octopus fishery is of major economic interest in the Moroccan Mediterranean, exploited by fishing boats using mainly octopus jigs and coastal trawlers using atomic bottom trawls. The current study, carried out in 2019, aims to quantify and characterize the nominal and effective fishing effort by fleet, and to assess the exploitation level in the octopus fishery using surveys with fishermen and catch and fishing effort data analysis. Respectively for artisanal boats and coastal trawlers, the depth of exploited areas was 24.7 m and 110 m (between Hoceima and Saidia), 124 m (between Fnideq and Cala Iris). Likewise, the annual fishing effort was 45,592 days (35,346 effective days) and 6385 days (3467 effective days). The fishing effort conversion factors were 0.78 and 0.54, proving that artisanal boats are more efficient than coastal trawlers in terms of time strictly dedicated to fishing. The total standardized annual fishing effort (FT) was 69,394 fishing days (53,799 effective days). The changing relationship Catch-FT during 2010–2019 was analyzed using linear regression Catch = 1,063,728.02 + 28.1FT (R2 = 0.55), implying that the Maximum Sustainable Yield was exceeded since 2015. Catch per Unit Effort (CPUE) was influenced by FT, Gear, and Year variables as demonstrated by the multiple regression equation: CPUE =− 14,299 − 0.0012FT + 7.17Year − 22.82Gear (R2 = 0.82). These results might serve as baseline data in population dynamic studies contributing to octopus fishery management. © 2023, Zoological Society, Kolkata, India.