Abstract

Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) has been the most important species in Bennuda's commercial fishery since the mid-I980s and has shown a generally increasing trend with landings peaking in 1997 at 104,531 kg. In contrast, dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) a regular component of the pelagic fish assemblage, is caught in much smaller quantities. Landings have oscillated in a small range reaching a maximum of over 7,600 kg in 1985. An analysis of the seasonality of landings over the past 11 years (1987 - 1997) indicates that wahoo landings are consistentIy highest in the second and third quarters and combined contribute 60 - 70% of the annual total. A similar analysis of dophinfish landings shows greater seasonality with the third quarter usually comprising 45 - 60% of annual landings. In both species, landings are lowest (5 - 8% of annual landings) in the first quarter which corresponds with winter weather conditions when fishing effort is usually reduced. A catch per unit effort (CPUE) index was developed using detailed catch and effort statistics fram 10 full time commercial fishers. This index demonstrated only small variations for wahoo over the 11 year period with the index varying fram 2.2 to 3.5 kg per hour trolling. A similar analysis for dolphinfish demonstrated a fIat trend probably because the smaller sizes of the dolphinfish were not sensitive to this weight-based index. An analysis of the population size structure of wahoo indicated that the distribution was unimodal and that the modal size for sexes combined was 118 cm fork length.

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