Evaluation Of a Large Mesh Belly Panel To Reduce Bycatch In The Maine Silver Hake (Merluccius bilinearis) Trawl Fishery

Small mesh trawls targeting silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis) in the Northeast U.S. are managed as exemptions to the Northeast Multispecies Management Plan and the gear must meet the requirement that bycatch of regulated groundfish species does not exceed 5% of the total catch.  At present, either a raised-footrope or sweepless trawl in conjunction with a grid must be used to land silver hake with a small mesh trawl.  Historical silver hake fishing grounds off Maine are unable to take advantage of this exemption as rugged bathymetry of Maine does not suit either a raised-footrope or sweepless trawl.  This study applies a large mesh belly panel to reduce bycatch of regulated groundfish while still using a rockhopper footrope due to the ruggedness of Maine’s seafloor.  The experimental net was tested via 33 paired fishing tows with a typical silver hake trawl and reduced the catch of regulated groundfish, flatfish, and red hake (Urophycis chuss).   While the mean catch of silver hake was reduced from 221.7 kg/hr to 179.0 kg/hr (19.3% reduction), this difference was not significant due to large variability between the control and experimental catch, with the experimental net out fishing the control 11 out of 33 pairs.  These results indicate that a large mesh belly panel can be used to target silver hake off Maine, while reducing bycatch and maintaining the required < 5% regulated groundfish of total catch requirement.