
%0 Journal Article
%A Broadhurst, MK 
%A Kennelly, SJ 
%T Rigid and flexible separator panels in trawls that reduce the by-catch of small fish in the Clarence River prawn-trawl fishery, Australia
%J Marine and Freshwater Research
%D 1996/12/01
%V 47
%N 8
%P 991-998
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/MF9960991
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MF9960991 
%X Two experiments were done in the Clarence River prawn-trawl fishery that compared catches and by-catches from conventional trawls with those from modified trawls containing rigid and flexible separator panels. The modifications included (1) a soft separator panel, the 'blubber-chute' (used commercially by fishers to exclude jellyfish), (2) the standard Nordmøre grid, containing a guiding panel, and (3) a modified Nordmøre grid that had no guiding panel but included a flexible cover of mesh lying semi-attached over the escape exit. In the first experiment, simultaneous paired comparisons among these designs and their controls showed that although all three modified trawls significantly reduced the by-catch of small fish by between 75% and 90%, the standard Nordmøre grid was the only design that did not significantly reduce catches of prawns. In the second experiment, which compared this standard grid with the control during a period of flooding when the by-catch of non-target species was quite high, the standard grid significantly reduced the by-catch of juvenile bream (Acanthopagrus australis) (by 67%) with no significant reduction in catches of prawns. The potential for the Nordmøre grid to alleviate deleterious effects of prawn trawling in estuaries is discussed. 
