Fisheries Resources in Trat Province, Thailand “Strategies for Trawl Fisheries Bycatch Management”

Abstract

This study of fisheries resources in the Trat Province (Thailand) was conducted during January to December 2014 by collecting the data from commercial fishing vessels landings at fishing ports in the Province. It was found that the catch per unit of effort(CPUE) of Thai Purse Seine(TPS), Light luring Purse Seine(LPS), Anchovy Purse Seine(APS) and Anchovy falling net (AFN) fisheries were 3,825, 5,859, 2,949 and 685 kg/day respectively. Short mackerel and gold stripe sardinella formed the highest composition of the catch from TPS and LPS while anchovies were the main component of APS and AFN. The CPUE of otter board trawl (OBT) was calculated as 23.7 kg/hour comprising of 15.1 kg of food fish (63.8% of the total catch) and 8.6 kg trash fish(36.2% of the total catch). Threadfin bream was the major species making up 7.95% of the total food fish weight. In the trash fish group, juveniles of economic fish accounted for 40.4% of the catch, whereas the remaining 9.6% was made up of true trash fish. Pony fishes made up the highest composition (46%) of the trash fish catch. Size measurements of 13 economically important species suggested that the mean length of three pelagic species were larger than the size at first maturity while the other ten species were smaller than size at first maturity. There is evidence that effective management measures are urgently needed to prevent recruitment overfishing which may lead to a further decline of fisheries resources. More effective management of high-efficiency fishing in some seasons and areas should be considered to conserve fisheries resources and their sustainable use for the future.