Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary, PO Box 1346, Gloucester Point, VA 23062, USA.
Conserv Biol. 2012 Dec;26(6):957-66. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01939.x. Epub 2012 Sep 18.
Fishing pots (i.e., traps) are designed to catch fish or crustaceans and are used globally. Lost pots are a concern for a variety of fisheries, and there are reports that 10-70% of deployed pots are lost annually. Derelict fishing pots can be a source of mortality for target and bycatch species for several years. Because continual removal of derelict gear can be impractical over large spatial extents, modifications are needed to disarm gear once it is lost. We tested a fully biodegradable panel with a cull or escape ring designed for placement on the sides of a crab pot that completely degrades into environmentally neutral constituents after approximately 1 year. This panel is relatively inexpensive, easy to install, and can be used in multiple fisheries. We used the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) fishery as a test case because it is a large pot fishery and blue crab pots are similar to traps used in other pot fisheries. We had commercial fishers deploy pots with panels alongside standard pots in Chesapeake Bay (U.S.A.) to assess potential effects of our experimental pots on blue crab catch. We compared the number, biomass, and size of crabs captured between standard and experimental pots and evaluated differences in catch over a crabbing season (March-November) at five locations. There was no evidence that biodegradable panels adversely affected catch. In all locations and time periods, legal catches were comparable in abundance, biomass, and size between experimental and standard pots. Properly designed biodegradable panels appear to be a viable solution to mitigate adverse effects of derelict pots.
渔捞具（如陷阱）旨在捕捞鱼类或甲壳类动物，并在全球范围内使用。丢失的渔捞具是各种渔业的关注点，据报道，每年有 10-70%的渔捞具丢失。废弃的渔捞具可能成为目标物种和兼捕物种多年的死亡来源。由于在大面积范围内持续清除废弃渔具可能不切实际，因此需要对丢失的渔具进行改装，使其失效。我们测试了一种完全可生物降解的面板，带有一个去鳞或逃生环，设计用于安装在螃蟹陷阱的侧面，大约 1 年后，该面板完全降解为环境中性成分。这种面板相对便宜，易于安装，可用于多种渔业。我们选择了蓝蟹（Callinectes sapidus）渔业作为测试案例，因为它是一个大型渔捞具渔业，蓝蟹渔捞具与其他渔捞具渔业中使用的陷阱相似。我们让商业渔民在切萨皮克湾（美国）与标准渔捞具一起部署带有面板的渔捞具，以评估我们的实验渔捞具对蓝蟹捕捞的潜在影响。我们比较了标准和实验渔捞具中捕获的螃蟹数量、生物量和大小，并在五个地点评估了一个捕蟹季节（3 月至 11 月）期间的捕捞差异。没有证据表明可生物降解的面板会对渔获产生不利影响。在所有地点和时间段，实验和标准渔捞具的合法渔获在丰度、生物量和大小方面相当。设计合理的可生物降解面板似乎是减轻废弃渔捞具不利影响的可行解决方案。
