Author(s): Sahar F Mehanna, Fahmy I El-Gammal, Samir A Zaahkouk, Hassan MM Khalaf-Allah and Ahmed F Makkey

Abstract: The present study is the first to study the population dynamics and management of the small tooth emperor, Lethrinus microdon in the Egyptian sector of Red Sea. A total of 927 fish specimens were monthly collected from the commercial catch of artisanal boats at different sites in the Egyptian Red Sea during the fishing seasons 2014 and 2015. Results showed that, the longevity of L. microdon is 7 years in the Egyptian Red Sea and age group one was the most frequent one forming up to 32% of the total catch. The highest growth in length was observed at the end of the first year of life (24.95 cm) after which the annual increment decreases gradually with increase in age. The “b” value (2.90) reflected the tendency to be negative allometric growth. The length at first capture was 23.71 cm with corresponding age 0.93 year. The total, natural and fishing mortality were estimated as 1.04, 0.30 and 0.74 yr^-1, respectively. The exploitation ratio E was estimated at 0.71 indicating a high level of exploitation. The relative yield per recruit analysis showed that the present level of exploitation is greatly higher than both E_max and E_0.5 (0.55 & 0.32 respectively) and for management purposes, the exploitation rate should be reduced from 0.71 to 0.32 (55%) to maintain the spawning stock biomass.

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