Batoids in a coastal trawl fishery of Argentina

Elasmobranchs have become an important element of the bycatch in the fisheries worldwide and an important resource for most of Argentine trawl fisheries. This work is the first analysis of the diversity of batoid fishes in the bycatch of the Argentine coastal fisheries. Between July 1998 and June 2000, an outboard observer program was carried out and 89 tows were monitored. A total of 1354 batoid specimens were obtained from the bycatch and 11 different species were identified: Atlantoraja castelnaui, A. cyclophora, Dasyatis pastinaca, Dipturus chilensis, Discopyge tschudii, Myliobatis goodei, Psammobatis bergi, P. extenta, Rioraja agassizi, Sympterygia bonapartii and Zapteryx brevirostris. The electric ray D. tschudii and the sand skate P extenta were the most abundant species and were always discarded. The commercial capture of batoids was estimated at 33.6 kg h(-1) and showed no clear pattern of temporal variation. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.