Flynet Trouser Trawl Turtle Excluder Device Testing

In 1994, the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Observer Program documented sea turtle bycatch in the Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) and weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) trawl fishery off North Carolina. The fishery utilized a high opening bottom trawl locally known as a “flynet.” In 1998, the NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories initiated research to develop a Turtle Excluder Device (TED) for the flynet fishery. Over the next 10 years, numerous prototype designs were trialed to determine feasibility of use in the fishery. During the 2008 and 2009 fishing seasons a specialized TED, the Flexible Flatbar Flynet TED, developed specifically for the flynet fishery was tested for catch retention and bycatch reduction. Due to the highly variable catch rates in the fishery, a standard flynet was modified to utilize the “trouser trawl” comparative testing technique. The objectives of the study were to quantify the target and bycatch species catch loss associated with TED use in the Atlantic croaker targeted flynet fishery operating off North Carolina. In addition, usability testing was carried out to identify handling problems and specialized handling techniques required when using TEDs in this fishery. The study was carried out aboard a contracted commercial vessel operating along the North Carolina coast. Tow level data were collected and included; date, vessel identifier, TED position (port or starboard), target species, total catch, target catch, and bycatch. Start and end location, time, depth, and temperature were also collected. Data were used to determine TED efficiency with regard to target catch.

To evaluate the feasibility of a Turtle Excluder Device for the flynet fishery.

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Information contained in the data are protected under FOIA exemption which apply to Government information in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4): Trade Secrets, Commercial or Financial Information.

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After collection, data is reviewed for accuracy and completeness by the principal investigator.

Data resides on Networked Attached Storage (NAS) environment. Security patches/updates are immediately applied to the host environment. Data is stripped/mirrored using RAID 50 technology to protect data from disk failure. Nightly backups are preformed and files are written to magnetic tape and stored in an onsite / offsite location.

Trawl catch is sorted to finfish taxa. Catch and length frequency data are recorded onto datasheets. Datasheets were checked in the field after sampling and data were checked after data entry. The principal investigators review the data for content to ensure the relevance/accuracy of data collected. Data prior to 2007 is in paper format and data from 2008 to present is in access database.