-
"Crustacea (crabs, lobsters,
and shrimp) are not herded into the net by door legs, rather
their capture or escape occurs only at the net mouth.
Large crustacea present a low profile which often results in the
net passing over them."
-
"From our observations,
greater than 80% of the predominant crustacea...in the direct
path of the net are not captured by standard rigged trawls."
-
"No evidence of mortality to
lobsters and crabs was observed in the net path or at the
leading region of the trawl rigging. A similar study in
Rhode Island in 1980 also found no evidence of mortality to
lobsters in the trawl net path. Minimal effects of trawl
gear on larval or juvenile stages are believed to occur."
-
"Several direct observations
of species behavior at the net mouth demonstrate a low degree of
mortality due to net contact. Most juvenile finfish
immediately pass through the forward wing, belly, or square
meshes of the net. Small fish with limited escape burst
speed often pass directly under the ground legs on the sweep and
enter the trailing dust cloud. Mortalities observed on
vessel decks are the result of cod end compaction after
entrapment rather than physical damage by movement of the net
through the water."
-
"Although there are few
observations available, we believe the effect of trawl gear on
juvenile lobsters is similar to the effect on comparable sized
organisms previously described. Juvenile lobsters are both
agile and durable and the few observations of passage through
trawl mesh have indicated no damage to this size lobster at this
point of capture."
-
"In all cases in the present
study, damage was noticeably less in the sub-legal portion of
the samples than in the legal portion and was not observed at
all for eggers. This may serve to somewhat alleviate
concerns about the damage experienced by those lobsters returned
to the water."
-
"Many questions have been
raised concerning damage to lobsters which are not retained in
the net. To answer these questions, in Rhode Island, the
Department of Environmental Management used a 42' research
vessel configured for lobster trawling to investigate the same
type of questions now being raised in Connecticut. DEM
used divers to search the trawl path immediately after the trawl
had passed and also made immediate repetitive tows in the same
area to pick up damaged lobsters. No damaged or mutilated
lobsters were observed for either phase of the study."
-
"Damage appeared not to differ
significantly between large and small vessels."
