The Effect of Codend Circumference on Selectivity of Hand-Woven Slack Knotted Codend in the North Eastern Mediterranean Demersal Trawl Fishery

Abstract

Poor selectivity and high discard rate of hand-woven slack knotted codend is a serious problem for north eastern Mediterranean demersal fish stocks. This study investigates the effect of codend circumference on bottom trawl selectivity for red mullet (Mullus barbatus), bogue (Boops boops), goldband goatfish (Upeneus moluccensis), Randall's threadfin bream (Nemipterus randalli) and picarel (Spicara smart's). A total of 18 valid hauls were conducted using covered codend method between 08 October and 26 December 2012 in Mersin Bay. Results show that selectivity of commercially used standard codend (300 meshes around its circumference) is rather poor and the narrow codend (150 meshes around its circumference) significantly increases selectivity for tested species. However, it is not selective enough to avoid the individuals of five commercial species under the MLS or FMS.