The effect of a fishing ban on a hake nursery ground in the Roses Gulf (NW Mediterranean)

A hake nursery area has been closed during two years by the Roses fishermen association (NW Mediterranean Sea) in order to protect the recruitment of hake in the area. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of this measure. Hake landings displayed marked fluctuations in the last 15 years although effort decreased. First results regarding the measure of closing the hake nursery area indicate that abundance and biomass of recruits were higher in the closed zone than in the surrounding fishing area, suggesting that this measure could contribute to protect significantly the hake recruitment