Essais d'un chalut de fond irlandais au large de Mahdia et comparaison de son efficacité de capture a celle du chalut tunisien type crevettier

Abstract

The trial of a new Irish bottom trawl with a big vertical opening in the region of Mahdia (Tunisia) shows that this trawl is very efficient. Comparison of the catches between the Irish trawl and the Tunisian shrimp trawl, shows that the catching efficiency of the Irish trawl is three times better than the catching efficiency of the Tunisian trawl. Also, this study shows that the Irish trawl is more selective than the Tunisian trawl, because the catches obtained by the Irish trawl are composed essentially by big fishes. Consequently, the introduction of the Irish trawl in the Tunisian fisheries can reduce the problem of catching a big amount of small fish and can protect the Tunisian halieutic resources.