Characterisation of the length of first capture, Lc of the dominant species captured by trawl net

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the length at the first capture, Lc of the dominant species in Kuala Terengganu waters. Lc is the length at 50% of the fish entering the gear is retained. The codend of a trawl net has been modified with the addition of a net with the mesh size of 25 mm to cover the codend of 38 mm mesh size. Ten species of marine fish were collected during the experiment with the total number of 1 736 in cover net and 1 128 in the codend. The species caught during the experiments are Secutor hanedai, Equulites stercorarius, Pseudorhombus malayanus, Pseudorhombus arsius, Saurida undosquamis, Trichiurus lepturus, Nemipterus hexodon, Upeneus guttatus, Scolopsis taenioptera and Selaroides leptolepis where the dominant species are Secutor hanedai and Equulites stercorarius. The length frequency distribution for S. hanedai and E. stercorarius are between 7.1 em to 10.7 em and 7.0cm to 10.6 em respectively. This study found that the length at first capture, Lc S. hanedai is 7.28 em and 6.13 em for E.stercorarius. The Lc for the both species is lower than length at the first maturity, Lm from the previous study. This study suggested that the use of 38mm mesh size of codend or larger should be enforced to promote sustainability of our resources.