Examination of Black Sea Bass Trap Catches in Relation to Soak Time in the Middle Atlantic Bight

Fish traps were soaked for long (d) and short (min) intervals to examine the relationship between the catch of Black Sea Bass Centropristis striata and soak time for traps used in the Middle Atlantic Bight commercial fishery. First, we soaked traps over a 14-d period to examine how catch changes over time and modeled catch as a function of soak time using two three-parameter models from the literature. Maximum catches were obtained after 11 soak days before declining. Models applied to catch and soak time data fit reasonably well and may be used to correct for changes in soak time to develop abundance estimates. Second, we used a modified trap equipped with video cameras to observe fish interactions, including entry and escapement dynamics with traps over short (similar to 60 min) soak times. Out of all the fish that were observed entering the trap, 48 (84.2%) exited while 9 (15.8%) were caught. Patterns for cumulative distributions of entries and exits indicated that entry and escapement behaviors may lead to saturation in Black Sea Bass traps used in the Middle Atlantic Bight. Additional study is needed to examine the dynamics of the saturation process and to elucidate how well trap catches reflect true abundance.