Catching trial around portable Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) at Belitung Waters

Abstract

Belitung Regency is an administrative area in the Bangka Belitung Islands Province. Handline is one of the most popular fishing gear in Belitung Island. However, the production value of handline fishing gear has decreased recently. This decrease was caused by the lack of fishing technology in handline fishing which potentially threatened the sustainability of small-scale fishing industry in the region. The use of portable Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) technology was expected to increase the productivity of handline fishing gear. This study aims to compare the composition of handline catch, productivity, and fishers total income using portable FADs and without FADs. Sixteen experimental fishing trips were conducted to collect data. The results showed that the dominant catch of handline using portable FADs was threadfin breams (Nemipterus hexodon) (50.7%), greater lizardfish (Saurida tumbil) (27.4%), yellow stripe threadfin bream (Pentapodus aureofasciatus) (10.7%), grouper (Epinephelus bleeker) (4.6%), monocle bream (Scolopsis sp.) (4.2%), yellow jack (Caranx bartholomei) (2.1%), and mackerel (Acanthocybium solandri) (0.2%). The number of catches using portable FADs was 521 of fish (37%), while the one without FADs was 888 of fish (63%). However, based on its weight, the operation using portable FADs resulted in 84.4 kg (58%) and those without FADs was 61.6 kg (41%). The productivity of handline fishing with portable FADs was higher, 1.32 kg / trip, compared to its counterpart which was 0.91 kg / trip. Based on the Kruskal-Wallis test, it showed that the use of portable FADs has a significant effect on handline fishing. Additionally, the total income of fishermen with portable FADs was higher than those without portable FADs.