A 'simple anterior fish excluder' (SAFE) for mitigating penaeid-trawl bycatch.

Various plastic strips and sheets (termed 'simple anterior fish excluders'-SAFEs) were positioned across the openings of penaeid trawls in attempts at reducing the unwanted bycatches of small teleosts. Initially, three SAFEs (a single wire without, and with small and large plastic panels) were compared against a control (no SAFE) on paired beam trawls. All SAFEs maintained targeted Metapenaeus macleayi catches, while the largest plastic SAFE significantly reduced total bycatch by 51% and the numbers of Pomatomus saltatrix, Mugil cephalus and Herklotsichthys castelnaui by up to 58%.

Configuring the mesh size, side taper and wing depth of penaeid trawls to reduce environmental impacts.

The effects of reducing mesh size while concomitantly varying the side taper and wing depth of a generic penaeid-trawl body were investigated to improve engineering performance and minimize bycatch. Five trawl bodies (with the same codends) were tested across various environmental (e.g.