Fishes incidentally caught by Japanese Antarctic krill commercial fishery to the north of the South Shetland Islands during the 1994/95 austral summer

Observations on abundance of by-catch fishes were made during the austral summer months of 1995 (from 30 January to 18 February) on board F/V Niitaka Maru to the north of the South Shetland Islands. Among 78 hauls examined, a total of 97 specimens of fishes belonging to five species, Electrona antarctica, Electrona carlsbergi, Protomyctophum tenisoni, Krefftichthys anderssoni and Notolepis coatsi, were found in 20 trawl catches. Juvenile or adult notothenioid fishes were never found in a random sample of 50 kg of krill. Number of by-catch fishes ranged from 0 to 50 per 100 kg of krill catch and total wet weight of by-catch fishes also ranged from 0 to 248.2 g per 100 kg of krill catch. Abundance of by-catch fishes was higher in krill hauls with the low catch rates.