for five days. Nets towed on the port 

 side of the Bulldog were fishing harder 

 than the starboard net, Rulifson says. 



"And that made some difference in 

 our data," he says. "So many things 

 can make a difference." 



When the square-mesh net was 

 towed on the starboard side, research- 

 ers saw a 25 to 85 percent reduction 

 in bycatch. "But when the net was 

 towed on the port side, there was no 

 significant difference. Because the port 

 side net was fishing harder on the bot- 

 tom, we still feel the square-mesh FSD 

 was working well," Rulifson says. 



When the diamond-mesh separator 

 was rigged on the starboard side, 

 researchers saw a 37 to 51 percent 

 reduction in total biomass, with no 

 significant loss of shrimp. In subse- 

 quent tows, a metal hoop, attached at 



Bahen (left) and Parrish adjust a video camera in the cod end section of the 

 diamond-mesh FSD aboard the Bulldog. 



the opening of the accelerator, was 

 removed. The hoopless net did not re- 

 duce bycatch when used on both the 

 port and starboard sides of the boat. 



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"This tells us that the diamond-mesh 

 separator worked well, but only when 

 the hoop was left sewn in," Rulifson 

 says. 



When a modified diamond-mesh 

 separator was used with a TED, 

 bycatch was reduced 35 to 65 per- 

 cent. "But shrimp loss was anywhere 

 from nine to 55 percent," Rulifson says. 

 "This is unacceptable. 



"I should stress that these are pre- 

 liminary results, that these numbers 

 come from the first week of two weeks 

 of testing," he says. "We were working 

 the bugs out of our gear and modify- 

 ing it as we went along." 



But Bahen says the team was look- 

 ing at more than just a reduction in 



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