The potential impact on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) catches of recent proposals to standardize the regulated mesh size along the south coast, from Cape Pine to Terrenceville, with the rest of Newfoundland by increasing the minimum size from 114 to 127 mm was examined. The study included: (1) tagging experiments in Miramichi Bay in 1970 using 114-, 150-, and 154- mm-mesh nets; and (2) the calculation of losses to the commercial fishery by comparing maximum girth distributions of commercial catches sampled in the area of the proposed change with the perimeter of the lumen of the proposed mesh size. The distribution of 1-sea-winter (1SW) Atlantic salmon in the catch during the taggang study in 114-, 150-, and 154-mm-mesh nets was 98.3, 0.4, and 1.3%, respectively; for 2-sea-winter (2SW) fish, it was 34.5, 30.5, and 35.0%, respectively. These results suggested that catches of 1SW Atlantic salmon would decrease as the mesh size is increased but catches of 2SW fish would not be affected. Examination of maximum girths showed that any fish with a maximum girth less than the mesh circumference plus 10% (lower limit of estimate range) to circumference plus 18% (upper limit) was capable of passing through a net without being caught. Of the Atlantic salmon in the commercial sample, 3.8-27.2% had a maximum girth smaller than the perimeter of the proposed minimum mesh size (127 mm plus 10-18%). The decrease in total number of fish caught in the commercial fishery and in fishermen's catches may be as great as 35% if the mesh size were increased to 127 mm.
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David G. Reddin (1986) studied this question.