A Bio-economic Study of the Trophic Structure of the Omani Fish Catch.

The present study was conducted to obtain estimates of certain biological and economic indices of the trophic structure of the Omani landed fish catch, namely, the mean trophic level (MTL), the fishing-in-balance (FiB) index and the relative price index (RPI). The MTL generally decreased from 1995 to 2010, indicating a fishing-down of the marine trophic web. The FiB index increased, indicating an imbalance in the fisheries. An economic index, the RPI, decreased from 1994 to 2007, indicating that the values of lower trophic level (TL) species increased relative to those of higher TL species.