COMPORTAMENTO DE PEIXES E CAMARÕES EM REDES DE ARRASTO COM DISPOSITIVOS DE EXCLUSÃO DE FAUNA ACOMPANHANTE

Knowledge about fish behavior is crucial to be able to influence the capture process and the composition of the captured species. The rapid expansion of the use of underwater cameras made it easier to study the behavior of species. The videos made in this project were the result of several trawlings with six types of exclusion devices in artisanal trawlers with double-rig system. About 200 hauls were carried out between 2017 and 2020, during the implementation of the FAO/REBYCLAC-II - Sirinhaém-Pernambuco-Brasil project. The videos show that exclusion devices are effective in allowing fishes to escape, but they can nevertheless provide an escape opportunity for prawns. The fish showed a more regular pattern, they followed the meshes of the codend towards the mouth of the net until they found the devices, in all of them they forced the passage with caudal propulsion, with the exception of the aluminum grid where they presented three types of differents behaviors. The prawn, in the six devices, showed four patterns of behavior: “Front swimming”, “Escape to the back”, “Inert” and “Fixed in the inner meshs of the codend”. Observations with videos on the behavior of the species are essential to improve the efficiency of the bycatch exclusion devices.