Comparison of live shrimp bait catch efficiency in single line fishery

Abstract

On the southern coast of South Korea, dark-banded rockfish, sea bass, and red seabream are caught by single-line fishing. In particular, red seabream and sea bass are caught in the Jeollanam-do region using gear with attached fishing hooks, such as longline and single-line gear, with live shrimp as bait. The objective of this study was to compare the catch efficiency of two types of live shrimp (naturally grown Shiba shrimp [Metapenaeus joyneri] and cultured whiteleg shrimp [Litopenaeus vannamei]) used as bait. The investigation included interviews, on-board surveys, and water tank experiments. Interviews were conducted with relevant parties to determine the preference for live shrimp as bait, and the results showed a greater preference for cultured whiteleg shrimp. Further, an on-board survey was conducted to compare catch efficiency between these two types of live shrimp bait for single-line fishing. The on-board investigations were conducted once or twice a month between June and October. In total, the amounts of fish caught using naturally grown Shiba shrimp and cultured whiteleg shrimp were 56 and 52, respectively. Of these, the numbers of sea bass, the primary target fish species, caught using naturally grown Shiba shrimp and cultured whiteleg shrimp were 43 and 40, respectively. Thus, the results showed that there was almost no difference in the number of fish caught based on the bait used. However, according to a water tank experiment, cultured whiteleg shrimp survived longer than naturally grown Shiba shrimp.