Effects of Hanging Ratio on Gill Net Selectivity for Annular Sea Bream (Diplodus annularis) in the Northern Aegean Sea, Turkey

This study has been conducted in the North Aegean Sea around the coasts of the Gallipoli peninsula at 3-30 m of water depth between February 2007 and June 2009. In order to test the effect of the hanging ratio on the selectivity, 9 gillnets with 3 different hanging ratios (E = 0.4-0.6) and 3 different mesh sizes (18-20-22 mm) have been made use of. Other than, the hanging ratios and mesh size all other features and specifications of gill nets were identical. Select method was used to fit gillnet selectivity curves. A total of 64 fishery operations have been performed in the study. The lognormal model gave the best fit for all hanging ratios (for hanging ratio (E) = 0.4-0.6, the model deviance = 138.9, 66.19, 56.23, respectively). It was determined that there was no significant selectivity differences among the same mesh size for different hanging ratios. The results showed that there is no effect of hanging ratios on size selectivity of annular sea bream (Diplodus annularis L.) in north Aegean gillnet fishery.