Trap Fisheries Fishing Methods Fact Card

What is a trap fishery? Trap fisheries catch fish or invertebrates by attracting them into a container that they can’t get out of. Examples of traps that attract animals with bait include crab, prawn, lobster, and black cod traps – all of these use some version of an inverted cone entry or a trap door that makes it difficult for the animals to get back out once they are in the trap.

Octopus are sometimes also caught by traps, but in this case they are jars or bottles that octopus like to use for hiding.

Weirs are an ancient kind of fish trap that takes advantage of the fact that fish tend to swim along a shoreline – walls of poles and nets are put up in a way that directs these fish into a corral at the end, from which they can’t get out. Atlantic herring were traditionally caught in this fashion on the Canadian east coast.

What do trawlers catch? The best known things that are caught by traps are shrimp, prawns, crabs, and lobster. However, a variety of fish are also caught with traps – in the past, many more were also caught in this fashion. A variety of newer versions of fish traps have since been developed.

What are the issues? Trap fisheries generally can be responsible fisheries, as they are quite selective in what they catch. A problem is that traps that are lost may continue to fish forever, with things that get in dying trapped. In the case of Puget Sound, it has been estimated that “ghost” crab traps fish up to 40% of the active fishery. Modern crab traps (“pots”) need to have an escape hatch that automatically opens after about a month.

Weir fisheries and other similar trap fisheries have often become illegal because they can be too efficient. They are still the basis of commercial salmon fishing on the Russian coast of the Pacific and of commercial fishing in the Mekong River. They are also being promoted as an alternative mechanism for sustainable salmon fisheries on the Fraser River – they can be very selective in what they catch, and fish from endangered stocks can be released unharmed. However, this could replace the whole fishing boat fleet, so is being contested.

* You can find a picture of ‘crabber’ traps on the “What kind of fishing boat is that?” sheet from Alaska. (http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/pubs/fv_n_ak/fv_ak1pg.pdf)