Effects of time of solar day, jigging method and jigging depth on catch rates and size of Gould's squid, Nototodarus gouldi (McCoy), in southeastern Australian waters

Abstract

Three squid-jigging experiments were conducted from 29 December 1980 to 12 April 1981 on FV Hoyo Maru 81. The aim was to determine the effects of time of night or day and of depth of setting jigs controlled by jig-line length on catch rates and mantle length of Gould's squid taken by machine-jigging and hand-jigging methods. Each machine had two jig-lines with 25 jigs on each jig-line and each hand-jigging fisher used one line with a single jig. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) expressed as weight of squid per machine-hour or weight of squid per hand-jigging fisher-hour was higher for the hand-jigging method than for the machine-jigging method at all times over the 24-h period. CPUEs were higher..