The Spanish albacore (Thunnus alalunga) surface fishery in the northeastern Atlantic in 2005

1 SUMMARY The main features of the Spanish albacore (Thunnus alalunga) surface fishery operating during summer and autumn months of 2005 in the northeast Atlantic and Bay of Biscay waters north of 40oN parallel are presented in this document. The baitboat fleet increased its yield 30%; likewise the troll fleet showed an increased catch of 36% respectively to the 2004 yield. Both fleets increased their nominal fishing effort about 16% in 2005. The size composition of the catches in 2005 obtained by both fleets showed a high proportion of age 2 derived by both methods used to age catches: length slicing and age-length keys, which is in agreement with the high proportion of age 1 present in 2004. However, in the case of age 3, the observed proportion of the catch at age differs contingent on either method applied to age the catch in the case of the troll fleet.