Influence of number of valves on catch composition of a fishing pot trap (Lege) in River Rima, north western Nigeria

Three types of prototype (Lege) traps with different numbers of entrance valves were evaluated in River Rima, north western Nigeria. The traps contained 4,6 and 8 valves, tagged 4-V, 6-V and 8-V respectively. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with one factor each replicated three times. Data collected on fish diversity, number, biomass and sizes were subjected to descriptive statistics and analysis of variance. The results of the catch composition showed close diversity index of 0.86 for 6-V, 0.80 for 8-V and 0.60 for 4-V Lege traps. However, the number (41%) and biomass (48%) of fish caught in the 6-V Lege trap were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those caught in the other traps. There was no definite trend in the sizes (length and girth) of fish caught in the traps. On the basis of species diversity, and the number and biomass of fish caught, the 6-V Lege showed preference for adoption than the other two traps. However, further studies are recommended on the appropriate mesh size net for the trap in line with the provisions of fisheries edicts

Design of a Recreational Fishing Survey and Mark-Recapture Study for the Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus, in Chesapeake Bay

The development of bay wide estimates of recreational harvest has been identified as a high priority by the Chesapeake Bay Scientific Advisory Committee (CBSAC) and by the Chesapeake Bay Program as reflected in the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan (Chesapeake Bay Program 1996). In addition, the BiState Blue Crab Commission (BBCAC), formed in 1996 by mandate from the legislatures of Maryland and Virginia to advise on crab management, has also recognized the importance of estimating the levels and trends in catches in the recreational fishery. Recently, the BBCAC has adopted limit and target biological reference points. These analyses have been predicated on assumptions regarding the relative magnitude of the recreational and commercial catch. The reference points depend on determination of the total number of crabs removed from the population. In essence, the number removed by the various fishery sectors, represents a minimum estimate of the population size. If a major fishery sector is not represented, the total population will be accordingly underestimated. If the relative contribution of the unrepresented sector is constant over time and harvests the same components of the population as the other sectors, it may be argued that the population estimate derived from the other sectors is biased but still adequately represents trends in population size over time. If either of the two constraints mentioned above is not met, the validity of relative trends over time is suspect. With the recent increases in the human population in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, there is reason to be concerned that the recreational catch may not have been a constant proportion of the total harvest over time. It is important to assess the catch characteristics and the magnitude of the recreational fishery to evaluate this potential bias. (PDF contains 70 pages)

Some data on landings of pelagic fish by the artisanal fishermen near Freetown during January-December 1978

Pelagic fish (except for tuna) are landed in Sierra Leone mainly by the artisanal fishermen. The two most important species are Sardinella and Ethmalosa.Deep-sea species are normally exploited by purse seiners of foreign countries. The landings of artisanal fishermen largely comprise Sardinella eba.Landing data for Sardinella landed at Tombo and Goderich, and for Ethmalosa at Tombo, are presented in tabular form. Collection methods are described, with a definition of the unit of fishing effort, and a description of the gear used.The landing data are discussed with particular attention to fishing effort, catch per unit effort, and price per ton

Struktur und Fänge der deutschen Fischereiflotte

In order to carry out the Multi-annual Guidance Programmes (MGP) the national fishing fleets of the EU were divided into mostly homogenous fleet segments. The current paper describes the single segments of thc German fishing fleet and summarizes their characteristics such as vessel capacity (tonnage in GRT), machine performance (power in kW) and vessel size (total length in m). Another table lists the averaged landings separated per stock and segment for the period from 1990 to 1994.

Recasting the Net: Defining a Gender Agenda for Sustaining Life and Livelihoods in Fishing Communities

Thirty-nine participants from 18 countries, including women fishworkers, representatives of fishworker organizations and NGOs, activists and researchers, met at Mahabalipuram, India, during 7-10 July 2010, to discuss the theme “Recasting the Net: Defining a Gender Agenda for Sustaining Life and Livelihoods in Fishing Communities”. The workshop was meant to reflect on what needs to be done to develop a ‘gender agenda’ for sustaining life and livelihoods in fisheries. It was also organized against the backdrop of the growing international recognition of small-scale fisheries and efforts to enhance their contribution to food security and poverty alleviation, as evidenced in the deliberations of the the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This publication—the proceedings of the Mahabalipuram workshop—will be useful for fishworker organizations, gender activists, researchers, policymakers, fish farmers, members of civil society and anyone interested in gender, fisheries and livelihoods. (PDF contains 89 pages)

Fishing gear experiments in Finland

A comparison of some different European methods of estimating the numbers of fish in a lake using different fishing gear is described. The different gears used were 1. surface trawl used by night 2. bottom trawl used by day 3. trammel nets, set in the evening and lifted in the morning 4. surface seine net used by night 5. bottom seine net used by day 6. Fyke nets, emptied each morning and evening 7. gill nets, set in the evening and lifted in the morning. The most variable catches were from those gears used by day on the bottom and the least variable were those used by night at the surface. The work continued by examining the use of acoustic systems for pelagic fish stock assessment. This gear gave reasonable population estimates for pelagic fish 10m and more below the surface. The advantage of the accoustic method is that it is quick and requires little labour. Its disadvantage is that it is not possible to identify the species and so it must be supplemented by another, conventional method.

Proceedings of the international workshop on the ecology and fisheries for tunas associated with floating objects

It has long been known that tunas frequently associate with floating objects, such as trees washed out to sea during periods of heavy rainfall, and fishermen have taken advantage of this behavior to facilitate the capture of fish. In some coastal areas, such as the Philippines, artisanal fishermen construct anchored fish-aggregating devices (FADs) to attract fish. More recently, large numbers of free-floating FADs have been constructed for deployment by large purse seiners on the high seas. The FADs often can be interrogated by the seiner and located at great distances using radio telemetry and/or GPS (Global Positioning System) technologies. In some cases a fleet of fishing vessels has a tender vessel which deploys and maintains the FADs, and notifies the fishing vessels when fish are seen around them. This workshop was convened by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and sponsored by Bumble Bee Seafoods, Inc., for the purpose of bringing together scientists and fishermen who have studied the association of tunas with floating objects. Special efforts were made to get participants from all the areas in which tunas associated with floating objects are the targets of fisheries. Thus the "regional review papers" include contributions for the eastern Atlantic, the southern Caribbean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the eastern and western Pacific Oceans. Many of these reviews and other contributed papers are published in this proceedings volume. Other papers discussed in the workshop were published elsewhere; these papers are cited in the list of background documents in the Report of the Workshop.

Exploratory fishing for tunas and tuna tagging in the Marquesas, Tuamotu, Society, Pitcairn, and Gambier Islands

The Marquesas Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean at about 9 degrees south latitude and 140 degrees west longitude (Figure 1). It has been demonstrated by tagging (Anonymous, 1980b) that skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, which occur in the northeastern Pacific Ocean have migrated to the Hawaiian Islands and Christmas Island in the central Pacific and also to the area between the Marshall and Mariana islands in the western Pacific. The Tuamotu, Society, Pitcairn, and Gambier islands, though the first two are not as close to the principal fishing areas of the eastern Pacific Ocean as are the Marquesas Islands, and the last two are small and isolated, are of interest for the same reasons that the Marquesas Islands are of interest, and thus skipjack should be tagged in those islands for the same reason that they should be tagged in the Marquesas Islands. The organizations which participated in the Marquesas Islands tagging and other scientific activities were the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), the South Pacific Commission (SPC), the Centre National pour l'Exploitation des Oceans (CNEXO), the Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer (ORSTOM), the Service de la Peche de la Polynesie Francaise (SPPF), and the Service de l'Economie Rural (SER).

Análise de dados colhidos a bordo da embarcação Cassiopeia de 7 a 15 de Maio de 1999

This paper aims to analyse the results of a cruise aboard the vessel Cassiopeia, held from 7 to 15 May 1999. These results relate mainly to the Quissico area and have as an objective to verify different features: total fish catch, predominance of caught species, dimensions of captured fish and fishing effort.

Possíveis relações entre a área de pesca, profundidade e tempo de imersão nas actividades da pesca com covos

A cruise aboard the vessel Cassiopeia was held from 14 to 22 November 2000. The objective to map the fishing areas, to study the variation of the catch, income, specific composition and length on wishbone Polysteganus coeruleopunctatus (cachucho) in relation to fishing areas, depth and immersion time of the fish pots. The total capture registered was 4.350,00 Kg for 1600 fish pots and 32 effectuated throws. The highest capture per throw was registered in the interval of depth between the 140 to 180 meters. Regarding the time of immersion, the better captures were obtained in the interval between 25 and 30 hours. The profits during this cross were for fish-trap (2, 71 kg), per throw 135,00 Kg and for immersion hour 6,07 kg. P. coeruleopunctatus (cachucho) was more abundant in number in Quissico, while in Zavora it was abundant in number and also in weight. Likewise, the cachucho was more abundant in number and weight in the captures of the fish pots submerged less than 24 hours, 100-140 meters depth. Cachucho catch under 100 meters depth was quite reduced (less than 1 %). The middle length of the cachucho captured during the cross was 275,7 mm. There were significant differences in the lengths of the cachucho accordingly to depth or fishing area. The smallest individual (fish) was captured by fish pots that were submerged more than 24 hours. The principal recommendations of the study refer to maintenance of the current fishing effort with regard to the number of fish pots, and explore the fishing areas on a rotating basis, to avoid the local effort, currently high.

Standardisation des efforts de pêche des chalutiers ivoiriens et estimation de l'abondance relative dans les divers secteurs

The method developed by Robson (1966) is used to standardize fishing effort of Côte d'Ivoire trawlers whose size and power are very different. This method also allows the estimation of the relative abundances in the different fishing areas. The results obtained using 10 years data show that the entire Ivorian continental shelf can be considered as a single fishery unit. The relative fishing power of vessels is well correlated with gross tonnage, brake horse power and length of the vessel. The obsolescence of the trawlers affects their fishing power.

Electric fishing survey of the gravel addition sites on the River Wyre, Grizedale Beck and Joshua's Beck.

Although geographically the River Wyre lies between two rivers containing major migrations of adult salmon and sea trout, its rod & line fisheries have for a number of years produced exceptionally low catches. In order to determine the causes of this the Wyre Salmon and Sea trout Restoration Group (WSSRG) was conceived in 1994 as a partnership between the then National Rivers Authority (now Environment Agency), local landowners, angling clubs and interested parties. Two studies of 1994 and 1995 stated that there is a shortage of useable spawning gravels on the river. This is compounded by Abbeystead Reservoir acting as a gravel trap, the siltation of gravels on several side becks and problems with access to available gravels by returning adults. There was also perceived to be a need for accurate fishery data from the river encompassing redd counts, catch data and surveys of fry populations. The 1995 report suggested a number of management proposals which might be adopted in order to improve and create available spawning habitat for migratory salmonids. Funding was made available to create three spawning gravels on each of two side becks (Grizedale Beck and Joshua's Beck) and the addition of gravels to a site oh the main river below Abbeystead Reservoir. Modifications were also made to the fish pass at Abbeystead to allow easier passage of fish. These improvements were made in the autumn of 1995. Salmonid spawning redd counting was undertaken on the whole Wyre catchment in 1995/1996 and specific surveys by electric fishing on the gravel enhancement sites in the summer of 1996. This report details the current state of the improvement works that were undertaken and presents the results of electric fishing surveys in September 1996. A number of lessons have been learnt which will be of great benefit to the Fisheries Function in other parts of the Wyre catchment and the Central Area in general.

The Gache Gache Fishing Co-operative, July 1984-June 1985

Details are given of development of the Gache Gache Fishing Cooperative and fishing activities in Lake Kariba undertaken during the year June 1984-June 1985. The viability of fishing cooperatives in Lake Kariba is also examined.