Maximum Sustainable Yield Estimates from Lake Nasser Fisheries, Egypt with Special Reference to Nile Tilapia Oreochromis niloticus using ASPIC Software

Abstract

The lakes’ fisheries play an important role in the Egyptian economy. Egyptian lakes face many challenges such as over-fishing, illegal and destructive fishing methods, human activities and pollution which affected the fish production from it. The lakes’ contribution to the Egyptian fish production decreased from about 50% in 80’s to the only 10% during 2017. Lake Nasser, as one of the largest artificial lakes in the world, plays a significant role in Egyptian fisheries. Its mean annual fish production is about 28,000 ton, this constituted 18% of the total fish harvested from Egyptian lakes. The catch and effort data over 15 years were collected from the lake and analyzed to assess its status and to summerize the main problems facing its development and management. Maximum Sustainable Yield of Nasser lake with special reference to the Nile tilapia, the main species in the lake, is estimated based on catch and effort data from 2003 to 2017. The computer software packages of ASPIC had been used. The surplus production model of Schaefer was applied in this study. The obtained results proved the over exploitation situation for the lake fishery and to achieve the sustainability many applicable measures are recommended.