The By-catch Composition of Shrimp Trawl Fisheries in Bushehr Coastal Waters, the Northern Persian Gulf

This paper is a comprehensive study of the shrimp trawl by- catch from Bushehr coastal waters (N. Persian Gulf). Sampling operation was carried out in two shrimp fishing seasons using the (Saber and Jahanara) commercial trawlers Generally, 87.5% of the total catch was by-catch and 12.5% was target species (shrimp). The catch composition included: 114 species from 45 teleostei families, 13 species from 7 elasmobranchs families and 13 species from 13 invertebrate families. Species composition of By-catch included: 72% teleosts, 14% elasmobranchs and 13.9% invertebrates. By-catch-to-shrimp ratio, CPUE index and catch percentage of species (based on Wt %) were computed. On average By-catch-to-shrimp ratio was estimated 7:1. It’s estimated that 283.4 tonnes of By-catches are taken annually in Bushehr coastal waters by 12 steel trawlers.