Exploring the Fishing by Stake-nets inside the Qeshm Island's Marine Protected Area

High population pressure in coastal areas has led to loss in many mangrove areas. Although these areas are fish nursery grounds, but there are no accurate and up-to-date data available. In this research, the catch data in the Qeshm Island marine protected area (MPA) were investigated using 11 stake nets. Totally, 81 specimens belong to 60 genera and 63 families caught, which majority of them were discards. The commercial fish were young, andin almost all commercial fishes, the whole catches were smaller than LM50. Moreover, in case of butterfish, only 15.3% of the caught individuals were in the legal catch size. Hence, this catch composition would be a potential threat to fish stocks. The major numeric and weight based specimens were Dussumieria acuta (10.05%) and Arius maculatus (5.9%), respectively. In addition, the Clupeidae containing seven species was the most abundant family in the catch composition. Moreover, the majority of catches were occurred in the late winter to early spring and late summer to mid or late fall.