Visual stimuli of nets, which affect fishing selectivity, vary by twine diameter, color, and material under different light conditions and visual geometries. In this study, two cylindrical model codends of two mesh sizes, 28 and 43 mm, were made of high-contrast, dark brown polyethylene (PE) netting twine and low contrast, light-blue polyamid (PA) monofilament twine. Each model codend was filled with juvenile seabream and set in the water channel of a light-blue circular tank under a flow speed 0.8 m/s for 30 min. Light conditions were set to relatively bright, dim, and dark. The resulting retention rates of juvenile seabream were 15-35% lower for the lowcontrast codend with PA monofilament than for the high contrast PE twine netting under bright and dim light conditions, while no difference was observed under dark conditions. The effects of mesh size and netting contrast on the retention rate were dependent on the light level, while the retention rate due to netting contrast was independent of mesh size. Therefore, low-contrast nets in the codend could help to reduce juvenile bycatch by disturbing the orderly optomotor response.
An active stimulating device, such as a fluttering net or canvas attached to the end of a cod end generating a shaking motion, could help to encourage the escape of juvenile fish positioned passively near the net. Field fishing trials using a shrimp beam trawl were carried out to examine the effect on the reduction of juvenile fish or other discard catch by generating a shaking movement of the cod end using an unbiased cap-like round canvas. The mean period of the shaking motion with the round canvas was -14 s, and the mean amplitude was 0.4 m as measured by peak event analysis and the global wavelet method. The bycatch of juvenile fish in 14 trials decreased by -30% and by -25% using a steady cod end for the total bycatch using a shaking cod end in the shrimp beam trawl, while the marketing catch was similar between steady and shaking cod ends. There was no difference in the body size of the shrimp or fish and species composition between the steady and shaking cod ends. Above results demonstrate a new method for bycatch reduction using an active stimulating device, although more detailed studies are needed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.