Title: Shrimp Fishery of the Gambia: A case study of the shrimp fishing gears

The objective of this project is to study the causes of by-catch in shrimp fishing gears in The Gambia waters and to propose measures to reduce the catch of juvenile and undersized fish. Catch and discard of undersized fish by shrimp trawlers is a matter of concern. Four methods of by-catch reduction are studied in this report including the Nordmøre grate, grid, enlarged mesh and square mesh in order to determine the most appropriate method for by-catch reduction in The Gambia waters. Square mesh was found to be the most likely method to reduce by-catch and should be applied in shrimp trawl, shrimp drift gill net and stow net fisheries in The Gambia waters. The method is simple and does not require extra netting material. The diamond mesh netting of any of the gear can be turned to 90º and the meshes mounted through the bars to attain square shape meshes. This method is proposed as an aid to reduce by-catch and improve selectivity in the Gambian shrimp fishery.