Catch composition of the deep sea shrimp fishery (Solenocera agassizi faxon, 1893; farfantepenaeus californiensis holmes, 1900 and farfantepenaeus brevirostris kingsley, 1878) in the Colombian pacific ocean

Abstract

The Colombian deep sea shrimp fishery is carried out by vessels with double bottom trawl fishing gear. There is a wide variety in the catch composition species, in which many of them have a wide distribution depth range. Fifty four fish species of 35 families, 11 crustacean species of 11 families, and one mollusk species were identified. Some holothurians, gastropods, echinoderms and other mollusks also appeared occasionally. The joint analysis of the current and former studies determined 85 species in the catch composition of this fishery. The Colombian bottom trawl fishery is actually using the turtle excluder device as the only technical adaptation of the fishing gear to reduce the bycatch turtles, but seems to exclude other big size commercial bycatch. There are some non-commercial bycatch species suitable for human consumption, but they are discarded due to their low price in the market, low abundance or bad aspect for the consumer.