Length-frequency data of the shared stock of kingfish Scomberomorus commerson (Lacepède, 1800)collected during the years 2004-2006 from the GCC waters (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Kuwait) were analysed for evaluation of the fishery and stock parameters. The drift and set gillnets performed growth overfishing. Large quantities of immature fish (< 80 cm FL) were landed by the UAE (3,767 t), Saudi Arabia (2,548 t), Qatar (1,543 t) and Oman (1,336 t). The VBG parameters for S. commerson were: L∞ = 176 cm; K= 0.4y-1 and t0 = -0.45y. The instantaneous total mortality (Z),natural mortality (M) and fishing mortality (F) were 1.59y-1, 0.5y-1 and 1.09y-1, respectively. The growth performance index (Ø’= 4.09) indicated fast growth of the fish in the GCC waters. The life span is estimated to be around 9 years. The high exploitation rate (E= 0.69) indicated excess effort in the fishery. The estimated biomass was 28,185 t and the maximum ustainable yield (MSY) was 14,825 t. The length at capture (Lc) was 63 cm fork length which was much lower than the length at first maturity (Lm ≈ 80 cm FL). The estimates of yield-per-recruit (Yw/R) and stock spawning biomass-per-recruit (%SSB/R) indicated overexploitation of the resource. The study suggests the need for urgent management interventions to sustain the fishery of kingfish in the GCC waters.

Scomberomorus commerson, GCC waters, growth, mortality, MSY, yield-per-recruit, overfishing