Incidental catch and discard of red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, in a large mesh Paralichthyidae gillnet fishery: experimental evaluation of a fisher's experience at limiting bycatch

• Published in: Fisheries Management and Ecology
• Main Authors: BUCKEL, J. A., HINES, R. J., MCARTHUR, T. C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2006
• Subjects: Red drum; Sciaenops ocellatus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2400.2006.00485.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2400.2006.00485.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2400.2006.00485.x

Abstract The ability of a commercial fisher to limit red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus (Linnaeus), bycatch was evaluated by comparing the catch of directed sets (net site chosen by the commercial fisher) vs randomly placed gillnets during 70 days of gillnetting ( n = 691 sets). Catch rate did not differ between directed sets and nets set randomly. Thus, fisher experience did not lead to reduced bycatch; however, this may have been influenced by overall low red drum bycatch (0.41 fish net −1 for 12 h sets and 0.59 fish net −1 for 24 h sets). Catch rates of southern flounder were much higher at 3.97 and 3.37 fish net −1 for 12 h and 24 h sets, respectively. Fishing 10 nets per day, the catch of red drum exceeded the daily bag limit of seven red drum on 23% of the days. Of the 326 red drum retrieved from gillnets, 32.5% were dead at the time of retrieval; but only 15 of the 106 dead red drum had to be discarded due to size limits, and six were discarded dead based on bag limits. Current fisheries management regulations (bag limit and window limit of 457–686 mm) are supported by these findings given the conditions (e.g. red drum densities) at which the study was performed.