Yu Mengjie, Herrmann Bent, Cerbule Kristine, Liu Changdong, Zhang Liyou, Tang Yanli
Fisheries College, Ocean University of China, 266003, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
SINTEF Ocean, Fishing Gear Technology, Willemoesvej 2, 9850, Hirtshals, Denmark.
Heliyon. 2024 Feb 4;10(4):e25771. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25771. eCollection 2024 Feb 29.
In the Asian paddle crab () gillnet fishery in the Yellow Sea, China, the minimum mesh size (MMS) regulation has been of a major importance due to high bycatch rates of undersized crabs. In this study, we evaluated how gillnet mesh size can affect the capture probability of and capture patterns in this fishery by comparing the performance of gillnets with four different mesh sizes (60, 70, 80, and 90 mm). Our results showed that changes in gillnet mesh size significantly affect the capture probability of different sizes of crabs. Specifically, increased mesh size decreased the capture probability of undersized crabs and their fraction in the catches decreased from 64 % to 24 % when mesh size was increased from 60 mm to 90 mm. In contrast, gillnets with larger mesh sizes significantly improved the capture probability of legal-sized crabs. Moreover, no significant differences were observed for the species catch composition between gillnets of different mesh sizes. Based on these results, we recommend 90 mm as the MMS in gillnets to improve sustainability in fishery.
在中国黄海亚洲绒螯蟹刺网渔业中，由于小型蟹类的兼捕率较高，最小网目尺寸（MMS）规定至关重要。在本研究中，我们通过比较四种不同网目尺寸（60、70、80和90毫米）刺网的性能，评估了刺网网目尺寸如何影响该渔业中亚洲绒螯蟹的捕获概率和捕获模式。我们的结果表明，刺网网目尺寸的变化显著影响不同大小蟹类的捕获概率。具体而言，网目尺寸增加会降低小型蟹类的捕获概率，当网目尺寸从60毫米增加到90毫米时，它们在渔获物中的比例从64%降至24%。相反，较大网目尺寸的刺网显著提高了合法尺寸蟹类的捕获概率。此外，不同网目尺寸的刺网在种类捕获组成上未观察到显著差异。基于这些结果，我们建议将90毫米作为刺网的最小网目尺寸，以提高亚洲绒螯蟹渔业的可持续性。
