catch composition of the bottom trawl fishery along the coasts of karataş-adana (northeastern mediterranean sea)

the catch composition of the bottom trawl fishery along the coasts of karataş was evaluated in the 2002-2003 fishing season. a total of 110 species were registered, the fishes showed the highest diversity (90 species) followed by 15 crustaceans species and 5 species of cephalopods. the highest catch per unit effort (cpue) value (66.8 kg h -1 ) was recorded in september when the fishing season was opened and decreased to the lowest value in march (12.5 kg h -1 ). the average cpue was 26.3 ± 18.9 kg h -1 . the result showed that catch of fish decrease with increasing depth. the highest fish catch (47.42%) was found in 0-20 m depth range. 35.58 percent of the catch was between 20-50 m, and 17.00% between 50-100 m depth. lessepsian fish comprise 18.90% of all fish in terms of the number of species and 26.66% of the total fish catch.