Abstract
The Nordmøre grid and the sieve panel are two of the main devices used to reduce fish bycatch in trawl fisheries targeting shrimp species. However, even when using such devices, some small-sized fish enter the codend of the trawl together with the targeted shrimp. Therefore, bycatch reduction remains a problem in some shrimp fisheries. One such fishery is the Northeast Atlantic deep-water shrimp (Pandalus borealis) fishery where it is mandatory to use a Nordmøre grid. In this study, the bycatch reduction efficiencies and patterns for several fish species using the standard Nordmøre grid and an experimental sieve panel were investigated and compared. The effect of combining these devices was also explored. The bycatch reduction patterns differed significantly between the two devices and a more efficient bycatch reduction was obtained by combining them. However, while the loss of commercial-sized shrimp was only between 0 and 2% for the Nordmøre grid, it was between 37 and 56% for the tested sieve panel, making this completely unacceptable for commercial fishing. Therefore, before a sieve panel can be considered as an option for the fishery, other sieve panel designs that have a significantly lower loss of shrimp catches need to be identified.
Highlights
The bycatch of juvenile fish in shrimp trawls is an issue that has been investigated worldwide [1, 2], including in the North Atlantic deep-water shrimp (Pandalus borealis) trawl fisheries
The video recordings confirmed that the technical setup for both the sieve panel and the Nordmøre grid sections functioned as intended
One could argue that the bycatch sorting capacity of the selectivity devices is the most important characteristic for these types of devices, but another crucial aspect to consider is the loss of the targeted shrimp created by the installation of such a device
Summary
The bycatch of juvenile fish in shrimp trawls is an issue that has been investigated worldwide [1, 2], including in the North Atlantic deep-water shrimp (Pandalus borealis) trawl fisheries. Work regarding bycatch reduction in the North Atlantic deep-water shrimp fishery in Norway started in 1970 [3] and has continued for almost five decades SINTEF Ocean provided support in the form of salaries for authors BH and MS, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the “author contributions” section
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