Authors : Patrick K. Ofori-Danson, Ali Abdulhakim and Samuel K.K. Amponsah
Abstract: The study highlights the importance of fecundity in estimating the reproductive potential of some key fishes encountered within the Ghanaian coastal waters and its usefulness in sustainable fishery management. A total of 600 female fish specimen including Dentex congoensis, Dentex angolensis, Pagellus bellottii, Pagrus caeruleostictus, Decapterus puntactus, Caranx crysos, Trachurus trecae and Decapterus rhonchus were assessed. The respective gonads were obtained by sampling the local catches at six coastal fish landing sites in Ghana between from March 2016 to February 2017. Obtained samples were measured for standard lengths with the eggs from the anterior, middle and posterior regions of respective ovaries (stages III & IV) weighed for the estimation of absolute and relative fecundity. Estimated absolute fecundity ranged from 0.4×106 ova for Trachurus trecae of 3.03×106 ova for Dentex angolensis. Further, computed relative fecundity ranged from 151.45 (Pagrus caeruleostictus) to 500.05 (Decapterus puntactus). Additionally, the length-fecundity relationship as well as the weight-fecundity relationship portrayed a positive relationship which indicates that large sized and big fish species produce more eggs than the small-sized fishes. Implicatively, continuous harvesting of large-sized fishes in the absence of appropriate management measures may result in reduced recruitment. Thus, implementation of management measures such as mesh size regulation as well as stringent adherence to minimum legal landing size of key commercial fishes in Ghana�s coastal fishing operations are urgently backed.
Patrick K. Ofori-Danson, Ali Abdulhakim and Samuel K.K. Amponsah, 2015. Fecundity of Some Commercially Important Demersal Fish Species in Ghanaian Coastal Waters, West Africa. Journal of Fisheries International, 10: 33-38.