Effect of razor shell (Solen vagina) and chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) baits on catching efficiency in angling fishery

The number of people engaged in angling is rising rapidly in Turkey as well as all over the world. Parallel to this increase, there is an ever-growing economy in terms of all application areas (fuel, transportation, accommodation, boat rental, materials, etc.). Some studies have reported that 10% of the country's population (± 6.1%) are amateur angling fishermen. The most important factors affecting fishing efficiency in angling fishery are hooks and baits. In this study, the fishing effectiveness, cath per unit effort, retention ratios on hooks and cost amounts of razor shell (Solen vagina) and chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) used as bait in angling were investigated. Experiments were carried out in Çeşme-Ildır Bay between March-May 2017 with two different stations at a 50-60 m depth and 320 angles. 47% of the fishes caught by the fishing line were caught with chicken while 53% were caught with razor shell. Chicken was found to be 0.07 (S.E. 0.01), and razor shell was 0.08 (S.E. 0.01) according to the catch per unit effort (CPUE) (P > 0.05). The percentage of chicken remaining on the hooks was 46.9%, whereas it was 30.5% in the other bait (P ≤0.05). In addition to this, chicken was found to be 100% more profitable in terms of cost. The results of this study indicate that combined use of chickens and razor shell in angling will be effective in terms of both cost and time of catching.