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Abstract

Trapping is a primary fishing method to capture swimming crab species along the coast of Vietnam, because it has low ecological and environmental impacts. In trap fisheries, bait plays a primary role in determining the effectiveness of the gear and is one of the largest operational costs. Fishermen determine bait types based on their experience and what they can find, where trash fish caught by trawl fisheries is preferred and commonly used. However, the catch rates of swimming crab traps are typically low and highly variable and thus, there is considerable interest to improve the catchability. This study examined the catch efficiency of commercial swimming trap fishery using new bait types against traditional trash fish bait. Of the six types of experimental baits investigated, channeled applesnail (Pomacea canaliculata) was associated with significant reductions in catch rates; splendid ponyfish (Leiognathus splendens), by-products from seafood processing, and largehead hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) showed no statistically significant difference in catch per unit effort (CPUE, number of crabs per trap) of all swimming crab species compared to trash fish bait (control bait). Finally mixed trash fish–squid (Loligo chinensis) and only squid significantly increased catch rates of crabs. Besides the channeled applesnail catching less crab than the control bait for all size classes, there was not a clear pattern for the size comparison between experimental baits and control bait for all three tested species. This study shows that crab fishing industries can improve the catching performance by using effective bait and that there are more options for fishermen to select bait types for their trap fisheries.

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