Artisanal fishery catch composition on South Sicilian and Thracian seas

In the south coast of Sicily and Thracian sea a high number of marine species are caught by 530 and 729 artisanal fishing boats respectively, in the shallow water between 2 and 100 meters. The objective of this study was to describe the composition of the catch and relative abundance of fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans collected during a catch effort survey carried out from October 1997 to September 1999 in the Sicilian shallow waters between Selinunte and Sciacca, and in the Thracian sea ports, situated between Alexandroupoli and Olympiada. The relationship within areas taking into account total catch for species was investigated using multi-dimensional scaling (MDS). In the Sicilian area 66 species belonging to 41 families were found in the catch. The most abundant families caught were Sparidae (24.4%), Carangidae (9.24%), Sepiidae (9.23%), Scorpaenidae (7.25%) and Mullidae (7.07%). In the Thracian area 92 species belonging to 47 families were found in the catch. The most abundant families caught were Sparidae (16.4%), Sepiidae (15.3%), Penaeidae (9.4%), Octopodidae (6.3%) and Soleidae (6.2%). The different catch rate observed in the wide shallow water area of the Thracian sea as well as the heterogeneity of the bottom can explain the differences of the faunistic composition between the two areas studied.