□ number OF FISH/10' 

 ■ METRIC T0HS/'1O> 



1960 



1-4 



- 3 



- 2 



. 1 



Year 



Figure 43 Number and weight of fish tor Ihc Morocco fishcnc 

 medium size bluefin tuna. 



for small and 



numerous m late August (Vilcla 

 1960) The albacoras and atuarros 

 (ages 4-7, mcluding most of our "me- 

 dium" group) were important in some 

 years but, as has happened with the 

 medium group in most other areas, 

 have generally decreased in impor- 

 tance in the most recent years 



Size composition data for Span- 

 ish trap catches by week (Rodriguez- 

 Roda 1964b) showed a tendency for 

 the largest individuals to be taken 

 near the beginning of each "run." 

 Aloncle (1964) observed the same 

 tendency m the catches of the Mo- 

 roccan tiaps. Similarly, Vilela (1960) 

 showed that the smaller tunas tended 

 to be most important in the catches 

 toward the end of each iiin, but espe- 

 cially in the "return" run. 



Vilela (1960) found 300 males 

 (38.1%) and 487 females (61.9%) m 

 a sample of the bluefin taken in the 

 Portuguese fishery in the years 1958- 

 1960. There was little year-to-year 

 variation from this proportion There 

 was also little difference between the 

 sex ratios for the "aiTival" and "re- 

 turn" runs, except in 1960, when the 

 sample from the "arrival" run con- 

 sisted of 44 4%) males and 55.6% fe- 

 males. Rodrigucz-Roda (1964b) pre- 

 sented the figures for the sexes deter- 

 mined from samples of the 1 956- 1 96 1 

 catches of the Barbate trap, and the 

 1961 catches of two others (Tabic 9) 



Lozano Cabo ( 1 958) pointed out 

 that the average size of the bluefin 

 caught in the Portuguese and Span- 

 ish traps increased according to ho\\ 



far east (near Gibraltar) the traps were 

 located The average was smallest m 

 the Portuguese traps, and the greatest 

 in the trap at Tarifa, near tiihraltar 

 He reported that the average si/.e of 

 the bluefin taken in the Moroccan 

 traps was even greater than the aver- 

 age of those taken at Tarifa. Aloncle 

 (1964) showed that in Morocco the 

 average weight of the fish caught also 

 increased with the proximity of the 

 traps to Gibraltar The largest fish 



were taken at Cape Spartel. at the 

 entrance to the Strait and opposite 

 Tarifa 



Statistics for most of the Ibero- 

 Moroccan Bay trap catch are shown 

 m Figure 50 These do not include 

 all of the Moroccan catch We were 

 unable to obtain continuous data for 

 the important trap at Cape Spartel (in 

 the former International zone of 

 Tangier) for 1933-1953, or for the 

 three more ephemeral traps near 

 Kenitra (in the former French Pro- 

 tectorate) for 1939-1955. Therefore 

 we have omitted their catches and 

 used those of the Larache group (in 

 the fonncr Spanish Protectorate) to 

 represent the Moroccan catch. The 

 catches of this group, which varied 

 from one to five traps in the years 

 1927-1954 and stabilized at three 

 from 1 955- 1 966. have been recorded, 

 in numbers of fish, for 1927-1962 

 (Lozano Cabo 1958, Hamre et al. 

 1 966) Data for subsequent years are 

 available, in various forms, in Aloncle 

 ( 1 964), Collignon ( 1 964, 1 965, 1 966, 

 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972), Lambeouf 

 (1 972), and personal communicafions 

 fromM l.amboeuf and R. Sara Since 

 1 966 only one or two of the Larache 

 traps, if any, have been set. Data for 



» CITIES 



3> GCOCRAPMICAL RCFIRENCES 



1. C.SANTA MAMA 



2. CTfUFALOAII 



3. CSPAinTL 



4. tTIIAIT or aa*LTAR 



5. CltRAUAR 



C. CEUTA, R ALMINA . ;', 



7. GULF OF VILC2 y^^'^ 



a ALSORAN II 

 9. C. Ties FDRCAS 



y 



WESTERN MEDITERMANEAN 

 SE* 



SC* OF ALIOAAN) 



•(g 



2" 



Figure 44, Geographic references for the lbero-Morocc;in Ba\' area. 



44 



