FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 83, NO. 4 



Sand E 



Small Rocks ^M 

 Large Rocks 



46° 

 35' 



46° 

 30* 



46 

 25* 



FIGURE 1.— General substrate type as observed by divers in the areas surveyed in Egmont Bay, Northumberland Strait, Gulf of St. Lawrenca 

 Locations of stations (heavy lines) sampled for lobsters in Egmont Bay, Northumberland Strait: 1 = recently heavily fished scallop ground, 

 2 = recently lightly fished scallop ground, 3 = no recent scallop fishing (large rocks), 4 = no scallop fishing (deeper water). 



sequences of scallop fishing on the degree of species 

 overlap. Scallop fishing may directly damage 

 lobsters, or because of the disturbance of the sea bed 

 by the drags, may cause lobsters to avoid or be at- 

 tracted to the overall area. 



METHODS 



Scallop Gear-Lobster Interactions 



1978 Study 



The interaction between three types of scallop gear 

 and lobsters was observed by divers between 15 and 

 30 August 1978. The study area was in 14 m of water 



about 1 km from shore Oong. 46°52'30"W, lat. 

 64°14'00"N), and consisted of a sandy bottom with 

 occasional small rocks. The gear used was a two- 

 gang, toothed Gulf rock drag (60 cm buckets) (Fig. 

 2); a two-gang Digby rock drag (76 cm buckets, no 

 teeth) (MacPhail 1954); and a 152 cm Gulf sweep 

 chain drag. A Gulf sweep chain drag is a smaller, 

 lighter revision of an offshore scallop drag (Bourne 

 1964). A hood of 38 mm stretch mesh was placed over 

 the drags extending to a height of 81 m above the 

 sea bottom, and one of the buckets (half the chain 

 sweep drag) had a similar mesh hood on the outside 

 of the back of the drag (back cover). The bucket, or 

 portion of the drag, without a back cover had a mesh 

 liner. Two divers hung onto each drag during tows, 



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