Comparison of fish catches with buoyant pop nets and seines in vegetated and nonvegetated habitats

Two models of pop nets were developed to sample fish in shallow riverine waters, one for use in vegetated areas and the other for nonvegetated areas. Both nets have a mechanical release mechanism that can be tripped from the water surface. Replicated field tests were conducted to compare pop-net catches with bag-seine collections every 2 weeks from May through mid-October. Overall, total catch per effort did not vary significantly (P < 0.05) between the two gears at either the vegetated or nonvegetated site. However, collections with the pop net were not as diverse as with the seine at either sampling site, perhaps because the area sampled by pop nets (5.6 m²) was smaller than the area swept by the average seine haul (70-140 m²). The pop net effectively sampled fish in shallow nonvegetated habitats and was useful in heavily vegetated areas where seining or electroshocking was difficult.