Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management

Catches were sampled in two fishing methods; industrial fishing for sprat (Sprattus sprattus) using a pelagic trawl, and fishing for herring (Clupea harengus) using a bottomtrawl, to investigate bycatches of cod (Gadus morhua) and other species. Sampling took place in 1993 and 1994 in the Baltic Sea. The industrial fishing was sampled in SD 25-28, and the herring fishing was sampled in SD 25. Bycatches in industrial fishing comprised; herring (17.8 %), cod <33cm (0.06 %), and cod >33 cm (0.15 %). The only discernible bycatches of cod in industrial fishing were in SD 25. Other bycatches in industrial fishing were lumpsucker (Cyclopterus lumpus), three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), flounder (Platichthys flesus) and salmon (Salmo salar). Catches in herring fishing comprised bycatches of cod <33 cm (0.6%), and cod>33cm (2.7%). Other species occuring as a bycatch in herringfishing were sprat, whiting (Merlangius merlangus), trout (Salmo trutta), and jellyfish (Aurelia aurita)