Variations of fishery resource structure in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea

Abstract:

To elucidate the dynamics of fishery resources structure in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, species composition, dominate species, spatial distribution of catch, community diversity and community structure of fishery species in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea were studied based on the bottom trawl survey data collected from June and September in 2013. A total of 185 fishery species were collected, including 93 dermersal fish species, 31 pelagic species, 48 crustacean species, 12 cephalopod species and one mollusk species. Among these fish species, the richest species was found in Perciformes (27 families, 47 genera and 56 species). There was no obvious seasonal variation of dominate species. In summer, the dominate species were sand shrimp Crangon affinis and hairtail Trichiurus lepturus, whereas in autumn, the dominate species were the swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus, yellow small croaker Larimichthys polyactis, Japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicus and hairtail Trichiurus lepturus. The average catch per haul was higher in autumn (46.60 kg/h) than that in summer (39.35 kg/h). The spatial distribution of fishery resource in autumn concentrated in the Yangtze River estuary and Lvsi fishing ground. The diversity indices of fishery species in summer were higher than that in autumn. The fishery biological communities could be divided into two groups based on the cluster analysis. The separation between two groups was primarily influenced by the temperature and discharge of Yangtze River.