Underwater Observations on Tracks of Dredges and Trawls and Some Effects of Dredging on a Scallop Ground

Tracks of three types of fishing gear in bottom sediments were observed from a submersible in Chaleur Bay (Gulf of St. Lawrence). Tracks left by past otter trawling activities covered at least 3% of the bottom by area and were considered to have been made by trawl doors.Shallow tracks made by inshore and offshore scallop dredges during the course of the study could be distinguished from each other and from trawl tracks.Scallop dredging lifts fine sediments into suspension, buries gravel below the sand surface, and overturns large rocks embedded in the sediment, appreciably roughening the bottom. The inshore Alberton dredge is inefficient, dumping its contents back onto bottom at intervals during the tow.Dredging causes appreciable lethal and sublethal damage to scallops left in the track, this damage being greatest on rough bottom. Incidental mortalities to scallops with an offshore dredge of at least 13–17% per tow are of the same order of magnitude as estimates of harvesting efficiency made in earlier studies.Predatory fish and crabs were attracted to the dredge tracks within 1 hr of fishing and were observed in the tracks at densities 3–30 times those observed outside the tracks.