The use of live shrimp for bait in
recreational fishing has resulted in
a controversial fishery for shrimp in
Florida. In this fishery, night collections
are conducted over seagrass
beds with roller beam trawls to capture
live shrimp, primarily pink
shrimp, Penaeus duorarum. These
shrimp are culled from the catch on
sorting tables and placed in onboard
aerated “live” wells. Beds of
turtlegrass, Thalassia testudinum,
a species that has highest growth
rates and biomass during summer
and lowest during the winter (Fonseca
et al., 1996) are predominant
areas for live-bait shrimp trawling
(Tabb and Kenny, 1969).
Our study objectives were 1) to
determine effects of a roller beam
trawl on turtlegrass biomass and
morphometrics during intensive
(up to 18 trawls over a turtlegrass
bed), short-term (3-hour duration)
use and 2) to examine the mortality
of bycatch finfish following capture
by a trawl
