By-catch of small fish in a sub-Antarctic krill fishery

Bycatch of small (< 150 mm) fish and squid in the 2004 krill fishery around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia was estimated to provide information on the ecological impact of the fishery and the biology of the bycatch species. Unprocessed krill catches were sampled aboard four commercial vessels to describe and quantify bycatch. Most hauls (67 %) contained small fish and the assemblage varied independently with locality, time of day and water depth but not fishing depth or krill density. Notothenioids, myctophids and squid were represented by 15 taxa and including commercially exploited Champsocephalus gunnari. Lepidonotothen larseni, muraenolepidids, Krefftichthys anderssoni and Gymnoscopelus nicholsi occurred in the greatest number of hauls where mean catches (standardised to volumes of water trawled) were 26 × 105, 7 × 105, 8 × 105 and 10 × 105 individuals m-3.