Maximum Sustainable Yield of Dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus, 1758) Fishery in Pakistan

The maximum sustainable yield (MSY) of Dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus, 1758) fishery in Pakistan was estimated from 20 (Twenty) years catch and effort data during 1990-2009. The average landing of dolphinfish fishery was 2418.55t. The highest catch was 4053t in the year 2002 and the lowest catch was 1297t in the year 1990. The CEDA (Catch and Effort Data Analysis) computer software package was used for the MSY estimation of dolphinfish fishery in Pakistan. In this study we used the initial proportion (IP) value of 0.3 because the starting catch was approximately 30% of the maximum catch. The estimated values of MSY from Fox model with two error assumptions normal and log-normal were 2792.125t (R2 =0.454) and 2920.592t (R2 =0.565) respectively. The MSY values from Schaefer and Pella Tomlinson models with two error assumptions normal and log-normal were 2781.02t (R2 =0.474) and 2863.3t (R2 =0.572) respectively. The values of Schaefer and Pella Tomlinson were the same. The gamma error assumption showed minimization failures for all three models. We may say the estimated MSY were lower than the current catch, therefore we suggest reducing the fishing effort for dolphinfish fishery.