RATES OF RETAINED AND DISCARDED CATCHES FROM DEMERSAL FISH TRAWLING OFF THE NORTH-EASTERN UNITED-STATES

The retained- and discarded-catch rates of fish, crustaceans and mollu scs caught by demersal fish trawlers were quantified in a large-scale observer survey of fleets working off the northeastern United States. The data presented come from catches sampled from 7757 tows on 1010 fi shing trips during the four-year period from July 1990 to June 1994 an d are summarized as the weights retained and discarded (per hour of tr awling) for many of the important commercial and recreational species in the region. Problems with the spatial and temporal design of the pr ogramme restricted statistical analyses of the data and prevented summ aries across all statistical areas and months. However, separate summa ries for individual areas (over all months) and individual months (ove r all areas) identified several spatial and temporal patterns in retai ned- and discarded-catch rates for individual species and combinations of species. Noticeable increases and decreases in catch rates during the four-year period provided information on the relative health of ce rtain stocks, and overall discard percentages indicated relative selec tivities of the trawling operations sampled.