Selectivity experiments with sorting grids in the North Sea brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) fishery
In: Fisheries Research. Elsevier: Amsterdam. ISSN 0165-7836; e-ISSN 1872-6763, more |   |
| Keywords | By catch
Characteristics > Selectivity
Codends
Fisheries > Shellfish fisheries > Crustacean fisheries > Shrimp fisheries
Selectivity
Crangon crangon (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]
ANE, North Sea [Marine Regions]
| | Author keywords | selectivity; sorting grid; cod-end; Crangon crangon |
| Abstract | The fishery for brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) is important in the North Sea and is carried out by more than 600 vessels, with total annual brown shrimp landings of around 20,000 t. Due to the small mesh size used the catches also contain large amounts of by-catch. To find ways of reducing this by-catch, experiments were carried out with a Nordmøre type sorting grid during two trips on a research vessel and three trips on a commercial vessel. The results depended strongly on the catch composition in the brown shrimp fishery. If the catch composition did not cause clogging problems with the sorting grid, it met the objectives it was designed for. The reduction of fish (>70%) and benthos (65%) in the catch was quite high. The commercial brown shrimp catch was reduced by 15%. The cod-end catch consisted mainly of shrimps and required less sorting and the cod-end selectivity for shrimp increased. If, however, material occurred in the catch that caused clogging, the commercial brown shrimp catch was soon below the level acceptable to commercial fishermen. |
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