WASHINGTON – A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research project in the Northeast was recently conducted to test the efficiency of different sweep types of fishing nets.
The team targeted summer flounder from Long Island to Nantucket and red hake in the western Gulf of Maine off Cape Ann.
Preliminary results show that smaller fish were caught more often using a chain sweep.
Rockhopper sweeps were more efficient during the day as the size of fish increased.
“These studies are all about understanding the efficiency of our survey gear,” said John Manderson, a fisheries biologist in the NEFSC’s Oceans and Climate Branch and chief scientist of the study.
The team made 40 tows for summer flounder, with almost all of them containing winter flounder as well, in southern New England waters before heading into the Gulf of Maine.
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