Fish by-catch in shrimp beam trawls in the northern South China Sea

The by-catch of shrimp beam trawl fisheries in the northern South China Sea were estimated during the 2005–2006 and 2012–2013 fishing seasons. A total of 98 hauls from three important shrimp fishing grounds were used in the analyses. A total of 119 by-catch species were captured, compared with only 15 target species. The ratio of by-catch to shrimp ranged from 1.01 to 13.90. The dominant standard length (SL) range of fish by-catch was 51–100 mm. The percentage of juveniles in the total catch of some fish species was high (e.g. 100% for A. aneus).