Fisheries and biodiversity of the beach seine catch from the Eastern Harbor, Alexandria, Egypt

In the present study, the catch of beach seine operating in the Eastern Harbor of Alexandria (Egypt) during the fishing season of 2009 was investigated. Fishing is allowed all year except for some weeks in the winter. Catch efficiency was estimated to be 37.94 kg/haul and catch rate was 25.29 kg/h. The catch was classified into economic (60.24%) and non-economic (39.76%) species. The total number of species caught in the Eastern Harbor was 46 species (31 economic, 15 non-economic) belonging to 31 families (16 economic, 15 non-economic). The economic category of species was dominated by the immigrant sardine species Herklotsichthys punctatus while the non-economic category was dominated by Engraulis encrasicolus. Eight species were lessepsian. In terms of abundance, seven species were recorded during four seasons, seven species occurred in three seasons; ten species were found in two seasons while the rest occurred in one season only. Species compositions, size composition, the length-weight relationships as well as age composition for some dominant species were investigated. Fishing in sheltered places or nursery grounds with small meshed nets (0.5 cm) causes drastic danger to the fish populations of the Eastern Harbor.