Abstract
Biometric studies in fisheries can provide new indicators essential for fisheries management. Among the different statistical elements that can be obtained from biometric data, the skewness of the population distribution and the relationship between the length and the weight of a fish can help assess the level of sustainability of a resource. Biometric data on marine fish were collected at 19 landings sites along the Cameroon coast for 6221 individual fish during several research campaigns. This paper provides the length-weight keys for 27 species of marine fishes mostly found in Cameroon fish landings, also providing insights in their level of exploitation. Overall, 62.05% of the fish species studied have a total length of less than 30 cm. Ilisha africana and Lutjanus sp. are the most and least exploited fish species respectively. The mean skewness of 0.838 suggests the resource is generally under pressure. This pressure varies amongst species, with Galeoides decadactylus (2.463) being under more pressure and Tylosurus sp.(-0.644) being the best exploited. The coefficient of allometry for all the species studied (2.718) indicates that fishes on the Cameroonian coast are generally thin (ie, grow more in length than in biomass). This may result from fishing practices, the physiological state of the resource (sex, maturation of the gonads) and the state of health of coastal and marine ecosystems. Further research needs to be undertaken to provide more information on the issue.