Fishing Mortality and Abundance of the Silver croaker, Otolithes argenteus in the Kuwait's Waters

The virtual population analysis technique was applied to the silver croaker, Otolithes argenteus, stock based on length frequency composition, age-length key and nominal catches taken by the trawl fleet and fixed-stake nets in the Kuwait's waters during $1981\~1988$. One-year-old fish was dominant, whereas three-year-old and older fish were at a very low level. Fishing mortality was much higher in the age groups of 2 and 3 than in the others. A strong year-class occurred in 1980 and 1981. Population size of fishable stock markedly decreased from 1982 to 1985 and remained at a low level during $1986\~1987$. The effects of changes in fishing effort showed that an increase in fishing effort would not lead to benefits in yield and would comprise more young and fewer old fish, whereas a reduction in fishing effort to a certain level (by $20\~40\%$ ) from the fishing effort level on the average during $1981\~1988$ could bring some small advantage to the fishery consisting of fewer young and older fish.