Reduced herding of flounders by floating bridles: application in Gulf of Maine Northern shrimp trawls to reduce bycatch

We hypothesized that a floating trawl bridle that does not contact the seabed would reduce the herding of fish, especially bottom dwelling flounders, and thus reduce bycatch of these fish in shrimp trawls. We further hypothesized that, due to the non-herding nature of northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis), the use of an off-bottom floating bridle would not reduce shrimp catch. These hypotheses were tested in the field by comparing a trawl with regular bottom-tendering wire bridles and the same trawl with floating synthetic bridles in the Gulf of Maine northern shrimp fishery. As expected, no statistically significant differences in catch rates and size were found for the targeted northern shrimp (146.3 ± 10.58 kg h−1 control vs. 140.8 ± 9.35 kg h−1, p = 0.13). Total finfish bycatch was reduced by 14.9%, and the difference was statistically different (p = 0.01). The most important reduction was the catch of juvenile American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) with a significant reduction of 20.0% (p = 0.01). For witch flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus), a reduction of 19.3% was found, but it was not statistically significant (p = 0.14). The reduction of Acadian redfish (Sebastes fasciatus) (by 28.0%, p = 0.02) was also statistically different. Catch of targeted silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis) was reduced by 10.8%, but the difference was only marginally significant (p = 0.07). An analysis of length frequencies for the targeted shrimp and major bycatch species revealed no size-related selection between the gears with regular bridles and floating bridles. The reductions in flounder bycatch indicate reduced herding of benthic species when the bridles are kept off bottom. This easy modification may be readily adopted in the northern shrimp fisheries in the North Atlantic, and can also possibly be applied in other shrimp and prawn fisheries with further experimentation.