Hayes--Fishing gears for shallow lake fish communities

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

Comparison between a fine mesh trap net and five other fishing gears for sampling shallow-lake fish communities in New Zealand (Note)

JOHN W. HAYES

Fisheries Research Centre Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, P.O. Box 6016, Rotorua, New Zealand

Present address: Freshwater Fisheries Centre, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, P.O. Box 8324, Riccarton, Christchurch, New Zealand

Abstract This paper describes the first tests of a fine mesh trap net suitable for sampling shallow-lake fish communities in New Zealand. The catch from 2 shallow lower Waikato lakes of this and 5 other gear types frequently used in freshwater fisheries research in New Zealand are compared. The trap net caught the widest range of fish species and sizes, and was the least selective for species composi tion and relative abundance of any individual gear type. A combination of trap net and gill net caught the widest range of species and sizes for individual or pairwise combinations of gear types, and is recommended as being the best combination for sampling shallow-lake fish communities in New Zealand.

Keywords trap nets; selectivity; shallow water; fish; community composition; environmental impact assessment; species inventory

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (331K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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