On Black Sea Anchovy and Its Fishery

Members of the Engraulidae (anchovies) fuel large fisheries around the globe, helping to fulfil demands for food. On the other hand, unpredictable catches that are a very common occurrence with respect to this family can have drastic consequences on economies of different countries. Like many other fisheries, the Black Sea anchovy fishery is a very good example of a fishery greatly affected by abrupt peaks and troughs in landings. In this work, the existing knowledge on the species' overwintering behavior and exploitation patterns along the south coast of the Black Sea is re-evaluated with respect to recent observations. The strong seasonality and very short fishing season are noted as the main characteristics regulating development of the fishery over time. Climatic variability may sometimes generate favorable overwintering conditions outside areas where anchovy aggregations are usually expected, resulting in a temporal shift in overwintering grounds. As most fishing activity takes place on these grounds, low catches in some years are more likely to have been due to fishing the wrong areas, rather than stock decline. This is particularly the case when geopolitical developments have reshaped the fishery, such as the collapse of the Soviet Union, whose fishing fleet once dominated the anchovy fishery. Such irregularities pose considerable management challenges, in particular stock management. Some significant harvest control strategies applied to various anchovy stocks are reviewed and discussed with respect to peculiarities of the Black Sea anchovy