Comparisons of shark catch rates on longlines using rope/steel (Yankee) and monofilament gangions

Citation
Branstetter S, Musick JA (1993) Comparisons of shark catch rates on longlines using rope/steel (Yankee) and monofilament gangions. Marine Fisheries Review 55:4–9
Abstract

During the months of June through September in 1991 and 1992, 71 shark longlines were fished in the Chesapeake Bight region of the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast with a combination of rope/steel (Yankee) and monofilament gangions. A total of 288 sharks were taken on 3,666 monofilament gangions, and 352 sharks were caught on 6,975 Yankee gangions. Catch rates between gear types differed by depth strata, by month, and by species. Analyses were divided between efforts in the nursery ground of the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, in Chesapeake Bay and efforts outside the Bay. Mean catch per unit effort (CPUE) plus or minus SE, as sharks caught per 100 hooks fished, was significantly (P<0.05) lower for Yankee gangions. Mean CPUE's for sandbar sharks in the nursery ground were 20.6 plus or minus 3.8 for Yankee gangions and 26.0 plus or minus 3.0for monofilament gangions and mean CPUE's for all species combined outside the Bay were 3.7 plus or minus 0.7 for Yankee gangions, and 6.9 plus or minus 1.2 for monofilament gangions.