DOI: 10.2478/alife-2018-0024 162 ESTIMATES OF THE POPULATION PARAMETERS AND EXPLOITATION RATE OF PONTIC SHAD (ALOSA IMMACULATA BENNETT, 1835) IN THE ROMANIAN BLACK SEA COAST George TIGANOV 1 , Magda-Ioana NENCIU 1 , Cristian Sorin DANILOV 1 , Victor Nicolae NITA 1 1 National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa“ Constanta 300, Mamaia Blvd., Constanta, Romania Corresponding author email: gtiganov@alpha.rmri.ro Abstract Sex ratio, morphometric characteristics, age and growth for Pontic shad from Romanian Black Sea Coast were examined. A total of 2.133 individuals were caught between March 2012 and September 2013. Female : male sex ratio was 0.62. According to the age reading, distribution varied form II to V year. The von Bertalanffy equation and growth performance index were determined by ESP software in Pontic shad. The asymptotic length (L∞ = L infinity) of Pontic shad generated by the ELEFAN I method, after introducing total length data for the two years of study, was 41.5. The natural mortality instantaneous coefficient (M) of the entire Pontic shad population, calculated according to Pauly’s empirical equation, using the growth parameters of the Von Bertalanffy formula and the mean annual temperature of the two study years of 13 o C, recorded the following values: M = 0.585 in 2012 and M = 0.639 in 2013. According with the resultants, it is recommended to perform a sustainable fishing which allows the capture of legal-sized of fish. Keywords: age, growth, morphometric characteristics, sex ratio. INTRODUCTION Fishery management is based on the knowledge and skills of specialists working in the field of water bio-economy. Fish and fishing industry are integral parts of human society and make an important contribution to the socio-economic and welfare in many regions and countries. Fisheries production is used in a wide variety of ways, based on subsistence or trade in fishery products (Nicolae et al., 2011a). In order to assess more complex and complete value of all components of the fishery, in terms of diversity and quality of stocks and regeneration rate of bioresources, namely to establish an effective and responsible mana- gement, sound scientific data is needed. According to them, fishery managers can make pertinent decisions only through good collaboration with all stakeholders; this will improve exploitation methods, will reduce the risk of overexploitation, the measures of protection and conservation of biodiversity will be respected and the sustainable use of all resources will be ensured (Calin, 2013; Radu and Maximov, 2006). Pontic shad is a fish with high economic and socio-cultural value for the communities established in the Danubian- Pontic space. In Romania, shad fishery has a market value of about 1.5 million euro, with average annual catches of 200-500 tonnes. But, since the interest for exploitation and marketing has grown, also the danger is greater for drastically decline of Pontic shad populations from the Danube and the Black Sea. The main factors with negative impact on the shad stocks in the Black Sea and the Danube are overfishing and pollution and, also, dam construction (Năvodaru, 1996). Therefore, it is essential to know the aspects of ecobiology and exploitation conditions of the species, in order to ensure background infor- mation for the conservation and management of stocks. The decrease of fish stocks to critical biological and ecological levels will cause a loss of potential benefits especially for biodiversity, food, income and employment, in short and long term (Nicolae et al., 2011b). MATERIALS AND METHODS The starting points for stock assessment of fish populations are length and weight data; they can be regarded as an ”outline” reflecting dynamic interactions between growth,