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Results of an Experimental Shrimp Fishery in Chaleur Bay, Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence
Author(s) -
Hanson J. Mark,
Lanteigne M.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8675(1999)019<0713:roaesf>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - shrimp , fishery , bay , bycatch , clupea , crangon crangon , herring , environmental science , oceanography , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , crustacean , decapoda , geology
Five surveys of coastal shrimp abundance and distribution were conducted aboard a commercial shrimp trawler between 25 Aug and 4 Nov 1997 to evaluate the potential for a commercial shrimp fishery in Chaleur Bay, southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The net was equipped with a fish exclusion grate (25‐mm bar spacing) to reduce fish bycatch. The initial target species was sevenspine bay shrimp Crangon Sepemspinosa, but very few were captured in the depths fished (20–82 m). The principal shrimp species captured were Aesop shrimp Pandalus montagui and Arctic argid Argis dentata. The catch rates of shrimp were too low to support a commercial shrimp fishery in Chaleur Bay. Average catch rates for Aesop shrimp ranged between 0.5 and 3.2 kg/h (whole animals, wet weight), and catch rates for Arctic argid ranged between 0.5 and 9.3 kg/h. Bycatch of fish was low (usually <10 kg/h) from late Aug to Oct but were excessive during early Nov when an average of 102 kg/h of Atlantic herring Clupea harengus and rainbow smelt Osmerus mordax were caught.