A STUDY ON TRASH CATCH OF THE BOTTOM TRAWL IN ABU-QIR BAY (EGYPT)

A STUDY ON TRASH CATCH OF THE BOTTOM TRAWL

IN ABU-QIR BAY (EGYPT)

By
S.N. FALTAS*; E. H. KH. AKEL AND A. ABDALA ,~.~ … ” l’ ,
, ,. ,. : l'” I:
*Natio~allnstitut~,ofOce~nography,and Fisheries~ ,AI~xandria, Egypt.
Key words: BottomTra~ling net, Trash catch, Abu-Qir Ba)T, Mediterranean.
ABSTRACT
Qir
1997.
Trash
Bay
The
(Egypt)’during
catch
amount
was sampled
oftrash
the
monthlyfrom
period
catch constituted
from November
trawlers
about
operating
1996
18% of
to
the
October
in Abutotal
trawling landing. It was identified into 88 species representing 48
families. The main components oftrash catch were Gobiidae (10.9%),
Siganidae (8.4%), Congridae (8.3%), Sparidae (6.4%), Citharidae
(5.8%), Centracanthidae (5.2%), Sphyraenidae (4.6%) Moronidae
(4.6%), Callionymidae (4.6%), and Trichiuridae (4.0%), together
comprising about 63% by weight of the total trash catch sampled.
The trash catch was divided into three categories: juveniles of
commercially important species (47.4 %), low-valued species (49.1%)
and unaccepted species for human consumption (3.5%). The size
analysi~ of important species showed that they were too small to be
exploited. Capture of juveniles seems to be mainly due to the small
mesh sizes oftrawling cod-end.