Bait preference in basket trap fishing operation and heavy metal contamination in the fishes caught from the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria

Abstract

The bait preference of basket traps fishing operation and heavy metal contamination in the trap catches from Lagos Lagoon were carried out between January and June 2011. Sixty baskets traps were used for the fishing operation, twenty basket traps were baited each with soap, coconut and maize. Clibanarius africanus was the most abundant shell fish numerically (1607, 86.77%) while Eleotris vittata was the most abundant among the fin fish (52, 2.81%). The least abundant species during the study was Lutjanus goorensis (1, 0.05%). The soap-baited basket traps were the most efficient in the catches while the coconut was the least effective bait. The analysis of variance showed that there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the number of individual organisms and species caught by each bait. Heavy metals detected in the catches included Zinc, Iron and Lead while Chromium and Cadmium which were below detectable limits. The study showed that Clibanarius africanus had the highest content of Zinc in the soap-baited basket traps (35.45) while Callinectes amnicola had the highest content in the coconut (28.27) and maize chaff (14.14. The traps lasted all through the sampling period without any form of deformity.Keywords: Bait, trap, heavy metal, catch per unit