Unequal sex ratios in longline catches

There is sometimes a significant bias in the sex ratio of fish caught by lo ngline. Usually, more females than males are caught. The possible reasons f or unequal sex ratios in longline catches are listed and discussed. One sex could be more common in the area where the fishery takes place because the re really is an unequal ses ratio in the population or because the other se x preferentially occurs in different places. Alternatively longline fishery might preferentially catch one of the sexes. This could be a result of siz e difference between the sexes and thus a different response to the given h ook size or bait size. Finally; sexes could differ in their feeding behavio ur. There is growing evidence that females-not only of fish-are 'energy max imizers': they find food faster and spend more time feeding than do males. Thus, fishing methods using bait are likely to catch a higher proportion of females than fishing methods that do not use bait.