Prepared by
Steve Eayrs
Fishing Technology Unit
Australian Maritime College
Tasmania, Australia
and
Joel Prado
Fishing Technology Service
Fishery Industries Division
FAO Fisheries Department
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
ROME, June 1998
The participants in the Working Group on Shrimp and Demersal Fishes of the Committee for the Development and Management of the Fisheries Resources of the Gulfs held in Kuwait from 11 to 13 May 1996 observed that the amount of by-catch resulting from intensive shrimp trawling in the Gulfs was becoming a very serious problem for the stocks of Demersal fish and for the sustainability of the fisheries in the region.
As a conquence, the Group recommended "that by-catch reduction devices (BRDs) be tested in the region and introduced in the fishery."
Taking advantage of available funds from an on-going regional training project (GCP/REM/01 I/GLF) and of the offer from Iran to host the activity, FAO proposed to organize tests of several existing by-catch reduction devices with proved efficiency on trawls in shrimp fisheries in other parts of the world in order to ascertain which would be the most suitable to the conditions of the fisheries in the Gulfs, to show the potential efficiency of such devices and to demonstrate the rigging and the utilization of the above-mentioned devices to local fishery officers under commercial fishing conditions.
This document, prepared by S. Eayrs, a fishing technologist from Australia and J. Prado from the Fishing Technology Service of FAO, reports on the tests, demonstrations and observations made from 12 to 16 October 1997, off Bandar-Abbas, Iran, on board two commercial trawlers, 22 and 24 meters long, with the utilization of five by-catch reduction devices.
Distribution:
Participants in the Committee
Directors of Fisheries (selected)
Other interested Nations and International organizations
FAO Fisheries Department
Fishery Officers in FAO Regional Offices
Eayrs, S.; Prado, J.
Tests, demonstrations and training for the utilization of by-catch reduction devices in shrimp trawling fisheries in the Gulfs. Bandar-Abbas, Iran, 12-16 October
1997.
FAO Fisheries Circular. No. 936. Rome, FAO. 1998. 19p.
At the request of the Working Group on Shrimp and Demersal Fishes of the Committee for the Development and Management of the Fisheries Resources of the Gulfs, tests and demonstrations of five by-catch reduction devices (BRD) for shrimp trawling fisheries were carried out in the Gulfs, off Iran: Square mesh window, Fisheye, Cone, Rigid grid (NAFTED type, from Australia) and Rope BRI).
Observers from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and almost twenty participants from Iran were taken on board two commercial shrimp outrigger trawlers made available by the host country Iran.
The tests/demonstrations carried out demonstrated the feasibility of reducing bycatch by using an appropriate device. All BRDs except the fisheye (because of too large loss of shrimp) were effective in reducing fish by-catch.
The type of by-catch reduction device the most appropriate differ according to the various conditions of fishing grounds of the Gulfs (species and size of fish). In this respect, further research is required to select and to adjust the BRDs according to local situations.
For further experiments to be carried out, refinement of the testing technique is required. Among others, this should include for each shot, random subsampling from the codends of the trawls on both sides, identification of all species, detailed catch categories measured and weighed.
3.1 The Iranian shrimp fishery
4.2 Fishing equipment: trawls and by-catch reduction devices