The Relative Impact of Netting and Sport Fishing on Economically Important Estuarine Species

摘要

The overall objective of this study was to determine the relative impact of commercial netting and sport fishing on spotted seatrout, red drum, and spanish mackerel. The catch was estimated by a creel census roving clerk technique. The statistical analysis, performed on the data, was conducted at the Institute of Statistics, North Carolina State University. An intense controversy exists along the coasts of Mississippi and Louisiana concerning the catching of sport fish by commercial fishermen using 1,000 and 2,000 feet of nylon and monofilament gill and trammel nets. This issue is probably one of the most critical problems facing resource managers of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The sport fishermen contend that these nets, especially the monofilament gill nets, are depleting the populations of spotted seatrout and red drum.