Influence of environmental factors on Tiger-toothed croaker (Otolithes ruber) catch rate and in the Northwest of Persian Gulf

Tiger-toothed croaker (Otolithes ruber) is one of the most important species that currently catch in the Northwest of Persian Gulf. A Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was fitted to Tiger-toothed croaker, Otolithes ruber, CPUE data (kg  per hour) from gillnet based in Northwest of Persian Gulf, Iran, between 2013 and 2018, with the aim to observe their relationship with environmental, spatial and temporal information. GAM model accounted for 36.4% of the variance in nominal CPUE. Stepwise GAM revealed the relative importance of two variables by decreasing magnitude, namely kd490 and month. The maximum and least CPUE rate occurred in Feb 2013 (42.62 kg/h) in Boseif station and November and December 2013 (1.13 kg/h) in Darvish station. This study considered the possible relationship of spatial, temporal and some satellite derived environmental variables on Otolithes ruber CPUE to finally help implementing of ecosystem based fisheries management for stock recovery program and management of this species. Results of this research revealed that latitude and longitude and year sampling have the greatest impact on Otolithes ruber CPUE. Since, the early step in ecosystem management is the sufficient knowledge on ecosystem and distribution of target species in relationship to environmental variables, therefore this research could help to implementing of ecosystem based management in this region.