Determination of effective tow duration for estimation of fish and shellfish abundance in deeper-water bottom trawl surveys

Experimental trawl surveys were conducted to determine effective tow durations for estimating fish and shellfish abundances in deeper-water bottom trawl surveys. A total of 304 hauls were conducted in Kagoshima Bay, southern Japan, for preset tow durations of 10 and 20 min, using a simple trawl net fitted with depth loggers. Towing durations were recorded at the ship’s bridge based on the shooting, towing and hauling times of the trawl net, using pre-established warp lengths for different water depths. Effective tow durations were computed by plotting depth logger and echo sounder data against tow time, and compared with preset tow durations. Trawled distances and swept areas were calculated using the Euclidean distance method. Effective tow durations ranged from 9 to 23 and from 19 to 37 for the 10 and 20 min preset tow durations, respectively. Preset tow duration estimations for abundance were highly biased: −10 to 130% and −5 to 85% biases relative to the effective tow duration estimations, respectively. Moreover, the biases were more pronounced in the shorter tow durations in deeper-water trawl hauls. The computation of effective tow durations using depth loggers and the ship’s onboard instrumentation presents a simple approach for correcting inadvertent estimations of effective tow duration, swept area and abundance indices.