The Role of Environmental Factors on the Fishery Catch of the Squid Uroteuthis chinensis in the Pearl River Estuary, China

The Pearl River Estuary (PRE) is one of the major fishing grounds for squid Uroteuthis chinensis. Taking that into consideration, this study analyzes environmental effects on spatiotemporal variability U. chinensis in PRE, basis Generalized Additive Model (GAM) and Clustering Fishing Tactics (CFT), using satellite situ observations. Results show 63.1% total variation Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) PRE could be explained by looking outside factors. most important was interaction sea surface temperature (SST) month, with a contribution 26.7%, followed effect depth fishermen’s tactics, salinity (SSS), chlorophyll concentration (Chl a), year, contributions 12.8%, 8.5%, 7.7%, 4.0%, 3.1%, respectively. In summary, mainly distributed over areas an SST 22–29 °C, SSS 32.5–34‰, Chl 0–0.3 mg × m−3, water 40–140 m. distribution affected western Guangdong coastal current, marine primary productivity, habitat conditions. Lower stock connected La Niña 2008.