Catch yield and selectivity of a modified scallop dredge to reduce seabed impact.

Autor: Fenton M; The Lyell Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom., Szostek CL; Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall, United Kingdom.; School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Gwynedd, United Kingdom., Delargy A; School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Gwynedd, United Kingdom.; School for Marine Science & Technology, University of Massachusetts, New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States of America., Johnson AF; The Lyell Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom., Kaiser MJ; The Lyell Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom., Hinz H; Instituto Mediterraneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Islas Baleares, Spain., Hold N; School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Gwynedd, United Kingdom., Sciberras M; The Lyell Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 May 13; Vol. 19 (5), pp. e0302225. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 May 13 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302225
Abstrakt: Global scallop fisheries are economically important but are associated with environmental impacts to seabed communities resulting from the direct physical contact of the fishing gear with the seabed. Gear modifications attempting to reduce this contact must be economically feasible such that the catch numbers for the target species is maintained or increased. This study investigated the outcome of reducing seabed contact on retained catch of scallops and bycatch by the addition of skids to the bottom of the collecting bag of scallop dredges. We used a paired control experimental design to investigate the impact of the gear modification in different habitat types. The modified skid dredge generally caught more marketable scallops per unit area fished compared with the standard dredge (+5%). However, the skid dredge also retained more bycatch (+11%) and more undersize scallops (+16%). The performance of the two dredges was habitat specific which indicates the importance of adjusting management measures in relation to habitat type. To realize the potential environmental benefits associated with the improvement in catchability of this gear modification, further gear modification is required to reduce the catch of undersize scallops and bycatch. Furthermore we advocate that technical gear innovations in scallop dredging need to be part of a comprehensive and effective fisheries management system.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Fenton et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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