Study plan for Maltese and Tunisian Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) fishery

The primary objective of the CORY03 project is stock assessment of Coryphaena hippurus in the fishing area of Tunisian and Maltese fleet. The target fleet (TS) is the artisanal fishery devoted to catch dolphin-fish by FADs and purse-seine. In order to accomplish the primary objectives, the following steps have been identified: a)Study the structure of the Tunisian and Maltese target fleet; b)Study the activity in time and space of the Tunisian and Maltese target fleet; c)Study the qualitative and quantitative composition in time and space of the catch of the Tunisian and Maltese target fleet; d)Esimate total Tunisian and Maltese catch and the relative fishing effort; e)Try to assess the stocks of the dolphin-fish using catch equations and/or VPA based on pseudo-coorte analysis.