Open AccessBaiting improves CPUE in nine‐spined stickleback ( P ungitius pungitius ) minnow trap fishery
Author(s) -
Merilä Juha
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.17
H-Index - 63
ISSN - 2045-7758
DOI - 10.1002/ece3.1635
Subject(s) - stickleback , minnow , fishery , catch per unit effort , biology , gasterosteus , zoology , fish <actinopterygii> , ecology
Abstract Whether or not baiting influences stickleback catch per unit effort ( CPUE ) remains a matter of debate among stickleback researchers: While the opinions about the impact of baiting on CPUE differ, supporting quantitative data are scarce. The effect of baiting and trap type on nine‐spined stickleback ( P ungitius pungitius ) CPUE was studied in a field experiment conducted over four consecutive days in a small pond in northeastern Finland. The results show that baited traps yielded better (mean CPUE = 1.24 fish/trap/d) catches than unbaited traps (mean CPUE = 0.66); however, there were also differences in CPUE depending on the type of collapsible trap that was used. The trap type effect on CPUE seemed to differ among age classes – the finer meshed trap caught more young‐of‐the‐year fish than the coarse‐meshed one, whereas the opposite was true for the older and larger individuals. The results agree with those of an earlier more restricted study conducted in the same locality: Together, these results provide strong evidence for the positive impact of baiting on nine‐spined stickleback CPUE .