Abstract
White croaker (Pennahia argentata) is a commercially important but overexploited species that is often caught in trawl fishery of the South China Sea (SCS). The codend size selectivity for this species in the local commercial trawl fishery is of concern when considering the established minimum landing size (MLS). This study investigated the size selectivity of white croaker for six different diamond-mesh codends with mesh size from 25 to 54 mm. We paid special attention to two codends, made with meshes of 25 and 40 mm in size, which are currently used according to the regulations established in the SCS. The results demonstrated that the legal codends do not perform satisfactorily in the fishing grounds where juvenile white croaker is relatively abundant. This is because at a length similar to the minimum landing size of the species (MLS = 15.0 cm), all white croaker were retained, and the estimated discard ratio was >97% in both cases of legal codends. Our study showed that by increasing the mesh size, the size selection of tested codends could be improved for white croaker, and the retention rates for juvenile fish would decrease. However, none codend was proved efficient to release undersized white croaker suggesting that other gear design changes may be necessary.
Highlights
White croaker (Pennahia argentata, (Houttuym, 1782)) is an important demersal fish species for trawl fishery, widely distributed in the coastal waters of China, Japan and Korea [1]
By testing and comparing selective properties of six diamond-mesh codends, with mesh size of 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 54 mm, respectively, for white croaker we focused on the following research questions: 1. To what extent is the size selection of codends with the legal mesh size, 25 mm and 40 mm, satisfactory for white croaker, considering the minimum landing size (MLS) regulation?
We investigated the size selection of six diamond mesh codends, with a wide range of mesh sizes from 25 mm to 54 mm, for white croaker for the first time in the South China Sea (SCS) under a commercial fishing condition
Summary
White croaker (Pennahia argentata, (Houttuym, 1782)) is an important demersal fish species for trawl fishery, widely distributed in the coastal waters of China, Japan and Korea [1]. In 2018, the total production of white croaker was 95 889 t, of which 23 284 t (accounted for 24.28%) was from the Chinese domestic marine fisheries in the South China Sea (SCS) [2]. The stock of white croaker has been overexploited and even declined, especially in the SCS [3,4,5]. Many factors have contributed to the exhaustion of this resource, among them, the capture of high quantities of juvenile fish might be proved to be the most important one.
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