UFHL 



SET RING 



TRIP LEVER 



FRAME 



Qmm.lOOmm 



3.l€m par sId* 



Figure l. — Drop-net apparatus with insets of (a) harness plates, (b) trip lever mechanism, and (c) seine. UFHP = upper frame harness 

 plate; UFH = upper frame harness; DFHP = drop frame harness plate; DFH = drop frame harness; DFHL = drop frame harness line; 

 UFHL = upper frame harness line; UF = upper frame; DF = drop frame; SSP = steel set pin; FSSC = flexible steel support cable. 



clips to the upper frame harness and drop frame 

 harnesses are released from their respective 

 plates. The tripod (weight 56.3 kg) can now be 

 collapsed and stowed with the drop net (weight 

 52.7 kg) on the pontoon boat. Disassembly of the 

 drop net apparatus generally takes 10 min. Not 

 counting the arbitrary waiting period between set 

 and drop, the described procedure takes approxi- 

 mately 1 h. 



The drop net was released 1 h after it was set 

 once a month beginning in April 1976. These sam- 

 ples were taken in a shallow seagreass bed (i.e., 

 Thalassia, Halodule, and Syringodium ). This drop 

 net design is limited to depths <1.2 m. A seine 

 haul was made within an hour of each drop net 

 sample in a seagrass bed approximately 75 m from 

 the drop net site. A 62 x 1.8 m bag seine (3.2-mm 

 mesh) was pulled with one end anchored on shore 

 and the seaward end stretched perpendicular to 

 shore. A 15.2 x 1.8 m barrier net (3.2-mm mesh) 

 was set 30.5 m down the beach and parallel to the 

 62-m seine. The seaward end of the large seine was 

 pulled by hand to the seaward end of the barrier 



net and then to shore covering approximately 

 1,160 m^/haul. The entire seine haul is made 

 within 10 min. 



All specimens taken using both drop net and 

 seine were identified, counted, measured, and 

 weighed (wet weight). The percent occurrence was 

 calculated based on the number of samples in 

 which a species occurred out of the total number of 

 samples taken. A comparison was then made 

 between fish samples taken by both gear types 

 (Table 2). 



Results and Discussion 



The drop net captured fewer individuals and 

 species than the seine and mostly small demersal 

 and semidemersal forms (Table 2). However, the 

 total fish density and biomass values from drop net 

 samples surpassed seine sample values. April to 

 December drop net samples gave fish density val- 

 ues from 1.8 to 19.3 fish/m^ (x = 9.0) and biomass 

 values from 1.3 to 29.4 g/m^ (x - 15.0). In seine 

 samples fish density ranged from 0.09 to 2.14 



287 



