Comparison of the stocks of striped venus, Chamelea gallina (L., 1758), in exploited and unexploited fishing areas in the Black Sea

In this study, between September-2017 and November-2018, the amount of striped venus, Chamelea gallina L., 1758, in the fishing areas (exploited and unexploited areas) on the Black Sea coast of Istanbul-Kocaeli-Sakarya provinces was estimated. It is estimated that while striped venus was 140.5±55.59 kg/km2 at the exploited fishing area, 448.7±189.21 kg/km2 in the unexploited fishing area and also it was 217.5±107.08 kg/km2 in the total area (exploited and unexploited fishing areas) in the study. Biomass amount according to the depths was determined as 176.7±55.92 kg/km2 at 15-20 m depths group in the exploited fishing area, as 448.7±189.21 kg/km2 at 5-10 depths group in the unexploited fishing area (p<0.05). It was estimated that the stocking density of striped venus as 13384.93±3259.58 kg in the exploited fishing area, as 156180.16±39646.66 tons at the unexploited fishing area and as 169565.09±42906.25 tons at the total area (exploited + unexploited area). The mean length of striped venus was calculated as 18±2.48 mm. The length-frequency distribution is determined to be mostly on 18-20 mm length group. The percentage of fished striped venus below the minimum landing size (17 mm) was estimated as 53.7% in exploited fishing area and 4.1% in unexploited fishing area.