The impact of turtle excluder devices and bycatch reduction devices on diverse tropical marine communities in Australia's northern prawn trawl fishery

Location
Northern Australia
Article
The impact of turtle excluder devices and bycatch reduction devices on diverse tropical marine communities in Australia's northern prawn trawl fishery
Target catch
Prawns
Study Type
Field study in the wild
Effect on target catch
6% reduction, but 41% reduction in soft and damaged prawns
Effect on bycatch species
Significantly fewer sharks caught using TED+BRD, TED, BRD only; significant reduction in rays in TED+BRD and TED only compared with control; significant reduction in sawfish catch in nets with a TED. Less reduction in bycatch for small sharks and rays.
Bycatch species
Elasmobranchs
Sharks
Carcharhinus dussumieri (Whitecheek shark)
Carcharhinus tilstoni (Australian blacktip shark)
Skates/Rays
Anoxypristis cuspidata (Narrow sawfish)
Gymnura australis (Australian butterfly ray)
Himantura toshi (Brown whipray)
Rhynchobatus djiddensis (Giant guitarfish)
Fishing Gear
Trawls
Reduction technique
Excluder devices