Population Dynamics and Management of Invasive Blue Tilapia (Oreochromis aureus) in Garmat Ali River, Basrah, Iraq

The blue tilapia, Oreochromis aureus is an invasive species that has successfully established itself in most of the Iraqi waters. However, there is little information on the population dynamics of the species in these waters. Hence, the growth parameters, mortality rates, probability of capture, recruitment pattern and yield per recruit of blue tilapia in Garmat Ali River, Iraq was assessed using FiSAT II software. A total of 1664 blue tilapia fish were collected by different fishing gears from October 2019 to September 2020 for recording the relevant data. The length-weight relationship obtained was W=0.0147*L3.0748 for fish ranging from 7.5 to 26.3 cm total length suggesting that the species shows positive allometric growth. The asymptotic length (L∞), growth constant (K), theoretical age at zero-length (t0), growth performance index (Ø') and longevity (tmax) were 29.9 cm, 0.205, -1.293, 2.345 and 10.7 years, respectively. The total mortality (Z), natural (M), fishing (F) and exploitation (E) were 1.09, 0.61, 0.48 and 0.43, respectively. Length at first capture (L50) was found to be 13.92 cm. The main recruitment pulse was from March to July with a peak in April, which account for 18.4% of the total recruitment in the year. The relative yield per recruit analysis revealed that the present exploitation rate (Epresent) for blue tilapia was below than the biological target reference points (E0.1 and Emax), which denotes that this stock was not over-exploited. For management purposes, higher yields can be achieved by reducing the mesh sizes of the nets during fishing.