446 



Fishery Bulletin 97(3), 1999 



led to unanimous industry acceptance 

 and adoption of the composite-square-3 

 codend within two weeks of the conclu- 

 sion of the field work described in this 

 paper. Fishermen have since reported 

 that the codend has minimal distortion 

 (due to the lastridge ropes), allows in- 

 creased tow duration, and provides an 

 improved quality of prawns. These re- 

 sults illustrate the benefits that can be 

 derived through liaison with industry 

 and by incorporating their ideas into 

 modifications to improve the selectivity 

 of prawn trawls. Such voluntary adop- 

 tion should ensure the continued devel- 

 opment and refinement of designs, as 

 part of normal commercial operations. 



Acknowledgments 



Funding for this work was provided by 

 the Australian Fishing Industry Re- 

 search and Development Corporation. We 

 are grateful to Jim Raptis (A. Raptis & 

 Sons PTY LTD ) and Yvonne Aston for the 

 use of their vessel Jillian Sandra. 

 Thanks are extended to Geoff Gordon, 

 Bruce Jackson, Kim Redman, Sam 

 Tudorvic, Micheal Aston, Bill Walsh, Les 

 Lowe (Gulf Net Mending PTY LTD), Hec 

 Kavenagh, and all Gulf St. Vincent 

 prawn-trawlers for their advice, assis- 

 tance, and support. We would also like 

 to acknowledge the Norwegian Research 

 Council for their contribution to the in- 

 volvement of Roger Larsen in this work. 



25 



20- 



15 



10- 



I Composite square 2 n = 4846 

 □ Control n = 5448 



ItL 



B 



25- 



20- 



15 



10 



5- 



B Composite square 3 n = 4268 

 □ Control n = 4495 



U/6 



6/8 u/10 9/12 13/15 16/20 21/30 



Commercial prawn grades by weight (no, per pound) 



Figure 8 



Commercial size categories of king prawns iPenaeus latisulcatus) caught 

 witli the (A) composite-square-2 and control codends and (Bi composite- 

 square-3 and control codends (u=underl. 



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