Population Dynamics of Ammodytes personatus (Girard, 1856) in Shandong, China: Does this Resource Needs Management?

China is the biggest fish producing country in the world. Its marine waters are frequently declared as over-harvested. Therefore, accessing the exploitation status of commercial fishery resources becomes very important for their proper management. This study uses catch statistics, 2007-2018, of a vital fishery resource, viz., Ammodytes personatus (Girard, 1856) to know its stock status and ongoing economic implications. For this purpose, Surplus Production Models (SPMs) were applied to the data through two world famous fishery routines, viz., Catch and Effort Data Analysis (CEDA) and A Stock Production Model Incorporating Covariates (ASPIC). In CEDA, we applied two SPMs, viz., Fox, Schaefer and Pella Tomlinson Models abbreviated as FM, SM and PTM, in that order. On the other hand, in ASPIC, we sued two SPMs, viz., FM and Logistic Model (LM). For principle IP 0.9, CEDA calculated MSY in a range between 13500 t and 30500 t whereas the estimates of ASPIC remained between 71500 t and 85000 t. Maximum sustainable yield (MSY) estimates are considerably lower than recent catch statistics which evidently indicates overexploitation. It is suggested that the target catch of this fishery resource should be between 14000 t and 20000 t. Moreover, it is highly recommended to conduct further more comprehensive and detailed studies on A. personatus fishery resource as this study is just a first step. Keywords: Ammodytes personatus, Overexploitation, Management, SPMs, China