Catch composition of light falling-net fishery in the central and southern South China Sea in spring of 2011

Based on the data collected from light falling-net fishery in the central southern and South China Sea inspring of 2011, this paper analyzed the catch composition and biological characteristics oftarget species.Results indicate that the main catch species of the light falling-net fishery was Symplectoteuthis oualaniensis whose dominant groups of mantle length were 110~130 mm. The other target species were Decapterus macrosoma,Thunnus albacaes ,Euthynnus affinis and Katsuwonus pelami. Since the species with index of relative importance (IRI) above 1 000 were defined asdominant species, S.oualaniensis was the only dominant species of light falling-net fishery with IRI up to 19 418.013; the species with IRI of 100~1 000 were defined asmajor species, so only two major species (D.macrosoma and T.albacaes) appeared in the light falling-net fishery with IRI of 176.731 and 175.703, respectively. The light falling-net fishery which is one of the main fishing methods for pelagic fishes has good developmental prospects and should be reasonably developed to achieve better development of fisheries in the South China Sea.