This study took place to survey the changes of seabed characteristic features due to trawl netting in the Bahrakan area in 2010. Sampling of sediment was carried out two times namely once before the season of the fishing activity of trawls and the other two weeks after the end of the trawls activity in Bahrakan fishing area,(northwest of Persian Gulf). For this purpose, eighteen stations were placed in 6 and 10m depths. Sediment sampleswere collected by Van Veen grab (0.025 square meters). Silt and clay percentages were 92.4 to 99.48% and 99.76 to 89.08% in 6 and 10m depths respectively,that had a significant increase in both depths after trawling (P<0.05). Also the percentage of organic substances was estimated 28.41 to 19.75% and 27.97 to 19.29% in 6 and 10m depths respectively, that had significantly increased in both depths after trawling (P<0.05).Organic carbon was recorded 12.18 to 4.9 and 12.68 to 4.7mg/l in 6 and 10m depths respectively, that wasproportionate with organic matter and increased after trawling significantly (P<0.05). In both depths, organic matter showed a significant positive correlation with the organic carbon and the percentage of silt-clay (P<0.05).Our results showed thatthe impact of trawling on sediment characteristics had not a specific differencebetween both depths.
Shirmohammadi M, Doostshenas B, DehghanMadiseh S, Savari A, Sakhaei N. Surveying the changes of sediment structure of seabed due to fishing activities bytrawl netting method in the Bahrakan fishing area. 3 2012; 4 (1) :21-32 URL: http://jmb.ahvaz.iau.ir/article-1-55-en.html