A Method to Determine Mesh-Size Selectivity in Commercial Menhaden Purse Seines

Abstract A field method was developed for examining the influence of purse-seine mesh size and mesh construction on size of Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) captured by commercial menhaden fishermen in the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay. A commercial purse seine of 22-mm-bar mesh was modified near the bunt by inserting 16 test panels (1 m 2) of four advertised mesh sizes (16-, 19-, 22-, 25-mm-bar) and two mesh types (knitted, knotted). During the summer and fall of 1984, the modified purse seine was used by commercial fishermen during normal fishing activity of a snapper boat (a small, privately owned, commercial menhaden boat). Test panels were examined for gilled fish after the net was pursed but before it was lashed to the snapper boat. Control fish were obtained by subsampling each set from the hold of the boat. Gilling of Atlantic menhaden was related to fish girth, mesh type, and mesh size. Fish subsampled from the hold were significantly larger than those gilled in test panels. Most of t...