Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) estimates for industrial finfish fishery in marine waters of Bangladesh using trawl catch log

A time series of annual catch per unit effort (CPUE) is derived from commercial logbook datafrom 2007 to 2018 and used as a tuning series for a Schaefer biomass model. The estimated maximumsustainable yield (MSY) reference points are optimal biomass BMSY = 206,082 t and optimal harvest rateuMSY = 38%. The current stock size is estimated to be around 211,000 t and the annual harvest rate around55%, slightly higher than the estimated optimal stock size and much higher than optimal harvest raterespectively. The average annual catch in last five years was 95,924 t, higher than the estimated MSY of79,325 t. Overall, the stock is therefore estimated to be in an overfishing state. The catch rate of high valueand large demersal species have gradually declined whereas low valued species such as small pelagic andmiscellaneous groups have been appeared as major percentage in catch composition for the last couple ofyears.