STATUS OF COMMERCIAL FISH CATCH IN THE IRAQI MARINE WATERS, ARABIAN GULF

Commercial fish catch in the Iraqi marine waters from December 2018 to December 2019 was investigated. The study is based on three stations: the first station is located at the Shatt Al-Arab estuary, the second represents the area between the Shatt Al-Arab Estuary and open marine waters, and the third is associated with the Iraqi territorial marine waters. The total weight of the catch was 1881 kg, represented by 500, 654, and 727 kg in the first, second and third stations respectively. The third station was the highest with a majority of the family Sciaenidae by 464 kg, while the lowest was the family Scombridae by 0.5 kg. The total number of species included 37 species, belonging to 27 genera, 19 families, and 6 orders, the largest order represented by a high number of species was the Perciformes and the lowest versatile orders were Oreclotiformes, Nemipterideaformes and Scombridaeformes; while the order Scorpaeniformes was found by only one species.