Evaluation of the Catch Performance of a Topless Trawl in the Summer Flounder Trawl Fishery

C. Parkins, J. DeAlteris, H. Milliken, M. O’Rourke

The interaction between sea turtles and commercial fishing gear in trawl fisheries has proven to be a major concern for fishermen and fisheries managers. Turtle excluder devices (TEDs) have been proven effective at reducing sea turtle bycatch in shrimp trawl fisheries historically known to catch sea turtles. Previous evaluations of the performance of the TED in the summer flounder fishery of southern New England and the mid-Atlantic were conducted during the summers of 2007 and 2009, and the results indicated a loss of target species catch ranging from 25-35%. Topless trawls have the potential for excluding turtles without affecting the catch of target species. This study compared the catch of a standard summer flounder bottom trawl (without a TED) to a topless trawl. In the topless trawl design, the square is removed from the trawl net and the headrope is set back into the upper belly. The experiment was carried out in the southern New England and Mid-Atlantic summer flounder trawl fishery. The results of the research indicated there was not a significant difference in catch between the two trawl designs. There was also no indication of a change in size distribution of the topless trawl, indicating that summer flounder of all sizes are retained by the trawl and do not respond to the lack of an overhang in the trawl.  Because of the nearly identical catch of the standard and topless trawl, NMFS NEFSC will test whether the topless trawl  excludes wild turtles,  as an alternative to inserting a TED into a standard trawl.