Monitoring and Predicting Potential Fishing Grounds of Trachurus mediterraneus Using Remotely Sensed Data Along the North Sinai Coastal Zone, Egypt

The Mediterranean horse mackerel, Trachurus mediterraneus, is the second most important species, economically and yield contributory, in the North Sinai fisheries after Sardinella aurita. Although the fishing grounds constantly change due to environmental factors, the fishing activities are still based on traditional methods; therefore, determining the Potential Fishing Zones (PFZs) must depend on effective and advanced techniques to monitor the optimal PFZs for T. mediterraneus along the North Sinai Coastal Zone. This study integrates the Sentinel-3 satellite's remotely sensed data, advanced digital imagery processing techniques, and fish yield data obtained from the General Authority for Fish Resources Development (GAFRD) for T. mediterraneus in the North Sinai fisheries during 2021 to build a suitable model for determining, monitoring, and predicting the other optimal (PFZs) for T. mediterraneus along the North Sinai Coastal Zone. The results confirmed that, regarding the total catch of T. mediterraneus in 2021, the highest catch reached 1.4 and 1.3 tons in June and July, respectively, while the lowest catch reached 0.14 tons in January. The predicted PFZs were estimated to be 6 times more than the fishing grounds that fishermen currently fish; moreover, the predicted annual production for T. mediterraneus was about 4.6 times the actual production. Furthermore, the North Sinai fisheries were not fully exploited due to the mis-determination of optimal PFZs and undeveloped fishing gears. This study highlights the importance of using remotely sensed data to help increase the national income from the fisheries sector by determining and predicting new fishing zones.