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Abstract
Abstract Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) has become an important species for the Norwegian seafood industry since its first commercial harvest in 2012. However, periodically catch rates can be low, causing a financial strain on the fishery. Thus, improving the catch rate of existing pot designs has the potential to significantly improve the profitability of fishing enterprises. In this study, we investigated whether the addition of low-powered purple and white light-emitting diode (LED) fishing lights inside the pots could improve catch rates of snow crab in the Barents Sea. Results showed that pots with purple lights harvested a 12.8% higher catch per unit effort (CPUE; number of crab per pot) of legal-sized crab, which was significantly more than the control pots (p = 0.035); pots with white lights did not catch significantly more crab (p > 0.05). Pots equipped with only light (no bait) caught very few crabs and were not considered a viable alternative. Although purple LEDs increased snow crab capture, the economic benefits of using underwater lights in pots remains unclear given the high capital investment required.
Highlights
Snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) are a subarctic and arctic species belonging to the family Oregoniidae
In 2017, we evaluated five experimental treatments: (1) Baited pot (B) for control; (2) Purple light-baited pot (BP)—similar to (1), with addition of a purple light-emitting diode (LED) fishing light; (3) White light-baited pot (BW)—similar to (1), with addition of a white LED fishing light; (4) Unbaited purple light pot (P)—pot equipped with only a purple LED fishing light; (5) Unbaited white light pot (W)—pot equipped with only a white LED fishing light, Based on the results of the first experiment, we designed a comparative experiment in 2018, only baited treatments (1, 2, and 3) were tested due to very low catch rates in the two unbaited treatments (4 and 5) in the first year
The baited purple light pots (BP pots) harvested a 12.8% higher catch per unit effort (CPUE) of legal-sized crab than control pots (B pots), and this difference was significantly different from the control (p 1⁄4 0.035; Table 2)
Summary
Snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) are a subarctic and arctic species belonging to the family Oregoniidae. Snow crabs have a wide distribution and have been found in cold waters of the Sea of Japan, the Bering Sea, the West Coast of Greenland, and along the East Coast of Canada from Nova Scotia to Labrador (Puebla et al, 2008) They live in a wide range of depths between 20 and 2000 m on sandy or muddy substrates. Snow crab grow by moulting their exoskeleton, and stop growing after a terminal moult, which typically occurs between instars 9–14 for males (size range of 40–150 mm CW) and 9–11 for females (size range of 30–95 mm CW) After their terminal moult, adult crabs can live up to 8 years under optimal conditions (Dawe et al, 2012)
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