Demersal fishes caught with bottom gillnets and baited gears at 500-2800m on the continental slope off Nova Scotia, Canada

Abstract

Fishing trials with bottom fixed gears (primarily gillnets but also shrimp and crab traps and longlines) were conducted on the continental slope off Nova Scotia in August 1991. Fishing was conducted at several depths between 500 and 2800 m in two areas, one on the open slope south of Emerald Bank and the other at the mouth of The Gully, a large canyon. Catches by gillnets accounted for about 90% of the total and were predominated by deepwater chimaera (Hydrolagus affinis), black dogfish (Centroscyllium fabricii) and Portuguese shark (Centroscymnus coelolepis). The most frequently caught species in traps were snubnose eel (Simenchelys parasitica) and abyssal grenadier (Coryphaenoides armatus). Variations in catches by depth and area are described, and comparisons are made with catches from otter trawl surveys at similar depths with regard to the most prominent species caught and their size compositions.