Publication Abstract

The selective properties of sieve nets

A. Revill, and R. Holst

By-catch of fish in the brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) fishery is a well-recognised problem. Sieve nets are to be introduced as a mandatory technical measure to reduce the by-catch under EC Council regulations. Four different designs of sieve nets were developed and tested in UK waters and compared for their selective properties. The question of efficiency in capture and loss of the target species was also assessed. Three species of fish were measured in the standard-gear and the experimental-gear to determine selectivity ogives. Only few fish were observed in the majority of the hauls and it was therefore not possible to use standard analysis techniques to obtain release curves by individual hauls. The paper demonstrates the selective properties of the sieve nets as determined by the use of bootstrapping techniques in combination with the SELECT model. The potential for a reduction in benthic impact resulting from sieve net usage is also discussed.

Reference:

A. Revill and R. Holst (2004) The selective properties of sieve nets. Fisheries Research, 66: 171-183