Fisheries biology assessment of the European hake, Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus, 1758), from Egyptian Mediterranean deep sea waters

843 specimens of Merluccius merluccius fish were collected seasonally and randomly from the northeastern Egyptian Mediterranean deep-sea waters, during 2017-2019, from the commercial boats. Izbet El borg fishing port is the main deep-sea landing site forming more than 99% of the total deep-sea catch. The length ranged from 12.3 cm to 63.9 cm. The length-weight relationship was: W = 0.0041 L^3.2906, W = 0.0038 L^3.1711, W = 0.0039 L^3.1752 and W = 0.0044 L^3.1364 for thread, males, females and total sample, respectively. The estimated age groups ranged from 1 to 8 years. The von Bertalanffy growth parameters were {(L͚= 62.63cm, k= 0.22 y^-1, W͚= 1669.43g); (L͚= 66.84cm, k= 0.24 y^-1, W͚= 2370.22g); L͚= 67.26cm, k= 0.19 y^-1, W͚= 2420.62g)} for males, female and total samples, respectively. The growth performance (ø) was= 2.93, 2.99, and 2.97 for males, females and total samples, respectively. The overall growth performance OGP=4.76. The gonado-somatic index and the maturity stages variations evidenced that the spawning period starts in autumn and extends to winter. Males' and females' lengths at first maturity (L_m) were 32.15 and 32.3cm, respectively. The total, natural and fishing mortality rates were 1.33, 0.34, and 0.99, respectively. The exploitation rate (E) was 0.74. Length and age at first capture were L_c= 26.4 cm and t_c= 2.6 years. Results revealed that the deep sea M. merluccius stock is suffering from overexploitation; some management regulation must be involved.