The relation between sea surface temperature and seleted pelagic fish catch in the South China Sea

Abstract

The relationships between sea surface temperature (SST) and the catch of selected pelagic species were studied in the waters of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia (ECPM), from 1992 to 1999. The fishing data for 12 fish species collected from the logbooks of the purse seine vessels were converted to monthly catch per unit effort (CPUE, tonnes/trip/month). The monthly mean satellite-derived SST datasets, gathered from the Advanced Higher Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (A-HIGHERS) and the Pathfinder programmes, and corrected for their accuracy, were used in the analysis. The results showed that each species had its specific interactions with SST, depending on season. During the northeast (NE) monsoon season, higher CPUEs of major species such as selayang, lolong, and aya hitam were from the low SST areas (25.8-27.4°C). The species such as kembung was mostly caught from the warm areas (26.4-28.6°C).