6. Results from fishing experiments

The bottom trawl used is a shrimp-cum-fish trawl (see Annex 1) and it may not be as efficient for shrimp as specially designed shrimp-trawls.

Colombia

The records of all the fishing stations are shown in Annex 2.

In the 23 bottom trawl hauls made, the catches are distributed, expressed as number of hauls by catch size groups, as follows:

Catch group (tonnes/hour) :	0-.03	.03-.1	.1-.3	.3-1	> 1
No of catches	3	5	7	6	2

The mean catch was 430 kg/hour. The main part of the total catch was represented by species of lower commercial value, and catch from species groups like snappers, Spanish mackerels and groupers are poor in the catches. A more detailed analysis of the species composition is under preparation.

Panama

The records of all the fishing stations made are shown in Annex 3. As during the previous survey the catches in the bottom trawl are mainly dominated by low-value species. The bottom trawl catches were distributed as follows, expessed as number of hauls by catch groups:

Range (tonnes/Hour)	:	0-.1	.1-.3	.3-1	1-3	3-10	> 10
Gulf of Panama, shelf	:	4	2	5	6	1	2
Gulf of Panama, slope	:			3	2	2	2
West of Panama Gulf	:	2	8	10	2	1

Mean of the 29 bottom hauls on the shelf was 1.4 tonnes, for the 9 hauls on the slope was 6.5 tonnes while the 23 hauls in the western part gave a mean of 0.7 tonnes. In almost all catches on the shelf that exceeded 1 tonne, the dominant species were usually the Pacific bumper, the lookdowns, scads, grunts or butterfish, all species of lesser commercial importance. The only and questioned exception is a 10 tonnes/hour catch of Panama brief squid (Lolliguncula panamensis), a species of uncertain commercial potential. The high catches on the slope were dominated by the argentina and cabezon shrimp. From the 9 hauls on the slope the catches of shrimp were (in kg/hour):

Cabezon (Heterocarpus vicarius)	:	7,	425	and	1922
Fidel (Solenocera agassizii)	:	19,	29,	37	and 68

A more detailed analysis of the catches are under preparation.

Costa Rica

Annex 4 shows a record of the stations made in Costa Rican waters. As the work permit did not allow bottom trawling in depths less than 100 m, only a few stations could be worked out. Most of the Costa Rican shelf slopes steeply into the deep sea from about 120 m bottom depths and the shelfe-edge proved to be too rough for trawling in most locations.