Login | Request Account (DAF staff only)

Round scallops and square meshes: a comparison of four codend types on the catch rates of target species and by-catch in the Queensland (Australia) saucer scallop (Amusium balloti) trawl fishery

View Altmetrics

Courtney, A. J., Campbell, M. J., Roy, D. P., Tonks, M. L., Chilcott, K. E. and Kyne, P. M. (2008) Round scallops and square meshes: a comparison of four codend types on the catch rates of target species and by-catch in the Queensland (Australia) saucer scallop (Amusium balloti) trawl fishery. Marine and Freshwater Research, 59 (10). pp. 849-864. ISSN 1448-6059

[img]
Preview
PDF
445kB

Article Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MF08073

Publisher URL: http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MF08073.htm

Abstract

Concern over the amount of by-catch from benthic trawl fisheries and research into the problem have increased in recent years. The present paper demonstrated that by-catch rates in the Queensland (Australia) saucer scallop (Amusium balloti) trawl fishery can be reduced by 77% (by weight) using nets fitted with a turtle excluder device (TED) and a square-mesh codend, compared with a standard diamond-mesh codend with no TED. This large reduction was achieved with no significant effect on the legal size scallop catch rate and 39% fewer undersize scallops were caught. In total, 382 taxa were recorded in the by-catch, which was dominated by sponges, portunid crabs, small demersal and benthic fish (e.g. leatherjackets, stingerfish, bearded ghouls, nemipterids, longspine emperors, lizard fish, triggerfish, flounders and rabbitfish), elasmobranchs (e.g. mainly rays) and invertebrates (e.g. sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and bivalve molluscs). Extremely high reductions in catch rate (i.e. ≥85%) were demonstrated for several by-catch species owing to the square-mesh codend. Square-mesh codends show potential as a means of greatly reducing by-catch and lowering the incidental capture and mortality of undersize scallops and Moreton Bay bugs (Thenus australiensis) in this fishery

Item Type:Article
Business groups:Animal Science
Additional Information:Reproduced with permission from © CSIRO Publishing. Access to published version is available via Publisher’s website.
Keywords:Benthic impacts drag Great Barrier Reef selectivity trawl net
Subjects:Aquaculture and Fisheries > Fisheries > By region or country > Australia
Aquaculture and Fisheries > Fisheries > Shellfish fisheries
Live Archive:24 Jul 2013 02:34
Last Modified:03 Sep 2021 16:44

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics