What is it about?
The catch performance of a traditional Ligurian boat seine, which is not in line with the European Union regulation, was compared with an experimental surrounding net without the purse line as a potential legal alternative. The relative catch performance between the two gear types was assessed using a new catch comparison method requiring neither paired data collection nor equal number of hauls with the two gears. The comparison was based on the catches of the three species that comprise the bulk of the catch in traditional Ligurian boat seine fisheries: Bogue Boops boops, Saddle Bream Oblada melanura, and Blotched Picarel Spicara maena. The experimental gear exhibited poor catch efficiency for all three species, since it was estimated that the catches would only be 2, 64, and 6%, respectively, of those with the boat seine. For both Bogue and Blotched Picarel these reductions in catch performance were found to be highly significant proving that the experimental surrounding net is not a viable solution to replace the traditional boat seine.
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Why is it important?
The new method tested herein has a broad scope for application, since it can be used to assess the effect of design changes to passive or active fishing gears on catch efficiency, as well as compare the catch efficiency of different types of gears where paired data collection is not possible or too impractical to use.
Perspectives
The present study tested an experimental surrounding net without a purse line that was conceived as a possible replacement to the boat seine and addressed how a change from the traditional boat seine to the surrounding net could affect fisher’s catches. The technical features of the experimental surrounding net are particularly well suited for this fishery primarily because, according to the European Union legislation, the minimum mesh size that fishers are allowed to use with this gear is 14 mm, allowing them to catch target species that are usually small in size.
Dr. Antonello Sala
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Assessment of the Relative Catch Performance of a Surrounding Net without the Purse Line as an Alternative to a Traditional Boat Seine in Small-Scale Fisheries, Marine and Coastal Fisheries, January 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1080/19425120.2015.1095827.
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