Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T17:37:31.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anon (1955–2007) Reports of the Irish Specimen Fish Committee. Dublin, Ireland.Google Scholar
Balss, H. (1922) Crustacea VII; Decapoda Brachyura (Oxyrhyncha and Brachyryncha) und geographic Übersichte über Crustacea Decapoda. In Michaelsen, W. (ed.) Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Meeresfauna Wisterias 3, 69–110.Google Scholar
Bates, D. (1981) Spider crabs—ripe for exploitation. Mimeo. Bord Iascaigh Mhara: 4 pp.Google Scholar
Edwards, E. (1979) The spider boom. Fishing News, 2 November 1979.Google Scholar
Edwards, E. (1980) Preliminary results of a tagging experiment on the spider crab (Maia squinado) in the English Channel. International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (CM papers and reports), CM 1980/K:12, 6 pp.Google Scholar
Fahy, E. (2001) The Magharees spider crab Maja squinado fishery in 2000. Irish Fisheries Investigations 9, 21 pp + appendix.Google Scholar
Fahy, E., Carroll, J., Smith, A., Murphy, S. and Clarke, S. (2008) Ireland's velvet crab Necora puber (L.) pot fishery. Biology and Environment. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 108B, 157–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fahy, E., Green, P. and Quigley, D.T.G. (2005) Juvenile Sparus aurata L. on the south coast of Ireland. Journal of Fish Biology 66, 283–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fonseca, D.B., Sainte-Marie, B. and Hazel, F. (2008) Longevity and change in shell condition in adult male snow crab inferred from dactyl wear and mark-recapture data. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 137, 1029–1043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, P. (undated) An investigation of the spider crab resource in Tralee and Brandon Bays—summer 1985. Resource Record Note. Mimeo, BIM, Dublin, 21 pp.Google Scholar
González-Gurriarán, E., Fernández, L., Freire, J. and Muiño, R. (1998) Mating and role of seminal receptacles in the reproductive biology of the spider crab Maja squinado (Decapoda, Majidae). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 220, 269–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Gurriarán, E., Fernández, L., Freire, J., Muiño, R. and Parapar, J. (1993) Reproduction of the spider crab Maja squinado (Brachyura: Majidae) in the southern Galician coast (NW Spain). ICES Shellfish Committee. CM 1993 K/:19, 15 pp.Google Scholar
González-Gurriarán, E. and Freire, J. (1994a) Movement patterns and habitat utilization in the spider crab Maja squinado (Herbst) (Decapoda, Majidae) measured by ultrasonic telemetry. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 184, 269–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Gurriarán, E. and Freire, J. (1994b) Habitat, movements and migraton of the spider crab Maja squinado in the Ría de Arousa (NW Spain). Prelminary data using ultrasonic telemetry. International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (CM papers and reports), CM 1994/K:30, 12 pp.Google Scholar
Kelly, E., Nee, D., O'Donovan, V. and Tully, O. (2003) Survey data for spider crab (Maja squinado) survey west and north west coast of Ireland 2002. Mimeo. Report published by BIM: Inshore Fisheries Project number 02.FD.139: 20 pp.Google Scholar
Kergariou, G. de (1976) Premiers résultants obtenus per marquage de l'araignée de mer Maia squinado, déplacements, mortalité par pêche. International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (CM papers and reports), CM 1976/K:14, 6 pp.Google Scholar
Kergariou, G. de (1984) L'araignée de mer, Maia squinado H., Biologie et exploitation. La Pêche Maritime 1279, 575–583.Google Scholar
Latrouite, D. and Le Foll, D. (1989) Données sure les migrations des crabes tourteau Cancer pagurus et araignées de mer Maja squinado. Océanis 15, 133–142.Google Scholar
Le Foll, D., Latrouite, D. and Noël, P. (1993) Relations biométriques chez l'araignée de mer Maja squinado: longueur de référence, distinction juvenile–adulte, taille–poids. International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (CM papers and reports), CM 1993/K22, 8 pp.Google Scholar
Martin, J.W. and Davis, G.E. (2001) An updated classification of the recent Crustacea. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Science Series 39, 124 pp.Google Scholar
Monod, T. (1966) Crevettes et crabes de la côte occidentale d'Afrique. Mémoires, IFAN 77, 107–187.Google Scholar
Neumann, V. (1998) A review of the Maja squinado (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) species-complex with a key to the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean species of the genus. Journal of Natural History 32, 1667–1684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nolan, G.D. and Lyons, K. (2006) Ocean climate variability on the western Irish Shelf, an emerging time series. International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (CM papers and reports), CM 2006/C:28, 12 pp.Google Scholar
Pawson, M. (1995) Biogeographical identification of the English Channel fish and shellfish stocks. Lowestoft: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Fisheries Research Technical Report No. 99, 72 pp.Google Scholar
Rodhouse, D.M. (1984) Experimental fishing for the spider crab, Maia squinado: sea and laboratory trials. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 64, 251–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Somerton, D.A. (1980) A computer technique for estimating the size of sexual maturity in crabs. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 37, 1488–1494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevcic, Z. (1967) A short outline of the biology of the spinous spider crab. Bulletin of Science of the Council of the Academy RSF Section A 12, 313–314.Google Scholar