(TED) in Reducing the Bycatch of Elasmobranchs in the Atlantic Seabob (Xiphopenaeus Kroyeri) Industrial Trawl Fishery of Guyana
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CERMES Technical Report No. 87 The effectiveness of a modified turtle excluder device (TED) in reducing the bycatch of elasmobranchs in the Atlantic seabob (Xiphopenaeus kroyeri) industrial trawl fishery of Guyana A. GARSTIN, H.A. OXENFORD AND D. MAISON Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) Faculty of Science and Technology, The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Barbados 2017 ABSTRACT The Atlantic seabob (Xiphopenaeus kroyeri) trawl fishery is extremely important to Guyana, with some 88 licensed industrial trawling vessels harvesting around 15,000 mt per year, almost all of which is exported to the US and EU, representing Guyana’s most valuable seafood export. The key player in this industry, the Guyana Association of Private Trawler Owners and Seafood Processors (GAPTO&SP) is taking pro-active steps in pursuing Marine Stewardship Council certification for the seabob trawl fishery to ensure top market prices and long-term sustainability of the seabob stock. To this end, all commercial vessels in the fleet are using turtle excluder devices (TEDs) and bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) in their trawl nets. However, the effectiveness of these devices in reducing the bycatch of vulnerable sharks and rays has not yet been examined. This study, requested by GAPTO&SP, represents the first attempt to document the bycatch of these discarded species by the seabob trawl fleet, and to compare the effectiveness of two different TED designs. Over the period July-August 2014, five trips were taken on three different seabob vessels to document the species, sizes and condition of all sharks and rays landed and discarded during the normal 24 hour-day operation of the vessels. Wherever possible, vessels deployed nets fitted with a standard control TED, simultaneously with nets fitted with a modified test TED for comparison of bycatch by the two gears. A total of 131 tows were sampled, 80 of which represented simultaneous tows of both the control and modified test TEDs. Shark and ray bycatch in the nets with control TEDs comprised eight ray species and one shark species including, among the infrequently landed species, three ‘Near Threatened’ and one ‘Critically Endangered’ ray species according to the IUCN Red List. The use of the modified TEDs significantly reduced the overall mean size of individuals in the elasmobranch bycatch by 6.3%. Most importantly the mean sizes of the two ray species representing >80% by number of elasmobranchs taken as bycatch were reduced by 9.4% and this resulted in a near elimination of mature females in the bycatch. By excluding larger individuals from the cod-end, a statistically significant and substantial decline in the catch rate (by 40%) was observed when using the test TED compared with the control TED (mean elasmobranch bycatch rate dropped from 2.29 to just 1.37 individuals per twin-net hr-1). This also resulted in a virtual elimination of the three ‘Near Threatened’ ray species in the bycatch, although it had little effect on the capture of the small-sized ray and shark species, including the ‘Critically Endangered’ Bancroft’s numbfish. We conclude that the modified TED was very successful in reducing important elements of the elasmobranch bycatch and should advance the progress towards attaining the bycatch standards required for MSC certification. We further recommend that the impact of this TED on the capture rate of the target seabob, which was beyond the scope of this study, should be examined to inform the decision on mandatory adoption of this gear modification. Keywords: elasmobranch bycatch; Guyana, MSC certification, seabob, industrial trawl fishery i LIST OF ACRONYMS BRD Bycatch reduction device CRFM Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism FAO Food and Agriculture Organization GAPTO&SP Guyana Association of Private Trawler Owners and Seafood Processors IUU Illegal, unreported and unregulated MSC Marine Stewardship Council TED Turtle excluder device VMS Vessel monitoring surveillance WECAFC Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We gratefully acknowledge the special contributions of Captain Naresha Ramanand and the crew of FV Pacuma, Captain Errol Adams and the crew of FV Ranmar 6, and Captain Nerwanie Persaud and the crew of FV Rebel’95 for allowing AG to join the crew on commercial fishing trips and agreeing to fish with both TED designs simultaneously. The research would not have been possible without this generous collaboration. We also acknowledge the generous support and assistance of the Guyana Association of Private Trawler Owners and Seafood Processors (GAPTO&SP), the management and staff of Noble House Seafoods, and the management and staff of Pritipaul Singh Investment Inc. We further acknowledge CERMES for their funding support through a research grant to AG, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Guyana for their assistance and approval of the research. We also thank Patrick McConney of CERMES, Tomas Willems of the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, Suriname, and Mark Nijhof of Heiploeg International, Netherlands for their interest and constructive critique of the study. iii Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Commercial importance of seabob ................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Guyana’s seabob fishery ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 Management of the seabob resources............................................................................... 2 1.3 Importance of the bycatch issue ....................................................................................... 2 1.3.1 International policy on bycatch ................................................................................. 3 1.3.2 Vulnerability of the elasmobranchs .......................................................................... 3 1.4 Market standards for shrimp ............................................................................................ 3 1.4.1 Marine Stewardship Council certification ................................................................ 4 1.4.2 Guyana Association of Private Trawler Owners and Seafood Processors ............... 4 1.4.3 Progress towards certification ................................................................................... 4 1.5 Study aims and objectives ................................................................................................ 5 2 METHODS ............................................................................................................................. 5 2.1 Survey area ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Vessels, gear and fishing operations ................................................................................ 6 2.3 At-sea data collection ....................................................................................................... 8 2.3.1 Physical data ............................................................................................................. 8 2.3.2 Biological data .......................................................................................................... 8 2.4 Data handling and analysis ............................................................................................... 9 3 RESULTS ............................................................................................................................. 11 3.1 Sampling effort ............................................................................................................... 11 3.2 Shark and ray bycatch using standard control TEDs ..................................................... 11 3.2.1 Species composition and individual size ................................................................ 11 3.2.2 Gender and life condition........................................................................................ 15 3.2.3 Catch rates ............................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Shark and ray bycatch using modified test TEDs .......................................................... 22 3.3.1 Species composition and individual size ................................................................ 22 3.3.2 Gender and life condition........................................................................................ 23 3.3.3 Catch rates ............................................................................................................... 23 3.4 Comparison of shark and ray bycatch between control and test TEDs .......................... 24 3.4.1 Species composition and individual size ................................................................ 24 3.4.2 Gender and life condition........................................................................................ 26 iv 3.4.3 Catch rates ............................................................................................................... 27 4 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................................... 28 5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 32 6 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................