FISHING WITH TRAPS

R/V “Dr. Fridtjof Nansen” make use of traps to sample fish on bottom unsuitable for trawling. The traps are collapsible when not in use and can be easily operated by two men. The traps can in many areas be adopted for commercial fishing and we list here the catch results from the stations worked during the survey:

Station no.	Number of traps	Total catch (kg)	Catch per trap (kg)
71	10	19.5	2.0
73	10	18.9	1.9
79	10	21.4	2.1
107	5	28.9	5.8
109	5	19.6	3.9
110	10	26.6	2.7

Lethrinus nebulosus was common in the catches. The fishing time was from 8 to 48 hours, but the profit in extending the set time beyond 12 hours seems small as the caught fish are soon attacked by carrion eaters. For further catch data see Annex I.