Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 July 2007
Catch rates (kg hour−1) of horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus), blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) and hake (Merluccius merluccius) from a series of 22 groundfish surveys conducted off Portugal between 1989 and 1999 were analysed using integrated logistic and gamma Generalized Linear Models (GLM). This methodology deals with the large amount of zeros in survey data matrices by modelling the probability of catch and the amount of positive catch separately, and then integrating the two sub-models into a single catch rate model of abundance. Among the explanatory variables included in the models, the geographic areas occupied by fish assemblages, i.e., groups of persistent co-occurring species, explained most of the variability observed for horse mackerel and blue whiting, while depth was the most important factor for hake. Because of hake's ubiquity on the Portuguese margin, models for this species were less parsimonious and explained a lower proportion of total variability compared with the other species. The abundance of horse mackerel is much higher in the winter and reduces with depth. Blue whiting and horse mackerel exhibited opposite trends in abundance from 1991 to 1994, with the latter species presenting a higher abundance throughout this period. No clear temporal trends of abundance were detected for hake. The effect of trawling hour in models suggested that horse mackerel and blue whiting exhibit vertical migrations, staying close to the bottom by day, when abundance is higher. The current approach proved to cope well with sparse catch data matrices and brought out novel information on the ecology of fish species in the Portuguese continental margin by successfully integrating environmental information into the analysis of fish abundance.