Abstract

Experimental fishing with commercial traps (maximum mesh aperture 4.1 cm) and large mesh traps (maximum mesh aperture 5.5 cm) was conducted on west coast reefs in Barbados to test a visual image hypothesis and a squeezability hypothesis as explanations for the observation that large mesh traps have lower fishing power. The lower fishing power resulted primarily from lower catch rates of fish of body depth 5.5 ~ 6.0 cm; (i.e. the size class which might be expected to squeeze through the 5.5 cm aperture of large mesh traps). This strongly supports the squeezability hypothesis for the lower fishing power of large mesh traps. Differences in the visual images of traps created by structural differences (differences in trap design) and biotic differences (i.e. the number of fish already in the trap) did not produce definitive differences in ingress rates to traps, suggesting that the visual image hypothesis is an inadequate explanation for the lower fishing power of large mesh traps.

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