Management and Conservation of a Short-Lived Fishery Resource: Loligo gahi Around the Falkland Islands

摘要

The Patagonian longfin squid Loligo gahi is one of the most important and valuable commercial fishery resources in the Southwest Atlantic with a mean annual catch over the last decade of about 50,000 metric tons (Falkland Islands Government 2004), taken mainly in the Falkland Interim Conservation and Management Zone (FICZ; Figure 1). Loligo gahi is a relatively small squid, typically attaining 13-17 cm mantle length (ML), which primarily inhabits the shelf (20-300 m depths) around the Falkland Islands. It is most abundant in near-bottom water layers to the south and east of the Islands. Its distribution on the shelf is closely associated with the "transient zone" representing the mixing of shelf waters with the subantarctic superficial water mass of the falkland current (Arkhipkin et al. 2004c).