The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries yesterday announced that three pairs of fishermen were selected from a list of applicants to take part in the study which seeks to collect biological data on the relatively unknown species for use in the development of a fishery management programme.

The fishermen submit detailed statistics of their catch and Fisheries staff conduct regular biological samplings in the bid to collect data on size, sex, reproductive condition and area of capture.

The study also aims to evaluate the performance of two different trap designs and each pair of fishermen has been given ten of each to set in different areas of the reef platform.

The traps are typically set in the vicinity of the breakers and along the South Shore and may be quite close to shore. Each trap has a unique red tag attached and is equipped with a cylindrical orange buoy with a black band around the middle along with a matching red tag.

The fishery began on May 1 and upon completion, Government hopes to establish a limited-entry guinea chick fishery similar to the one in place for spiny lobsters.

The data collected over the two-year project will be used to establish the parameters of this fishery. In the first year, 11,000 lobsters were harvested.

According to a Fisheries spokesperson, the eagle-eyed public has often reported fishermen setting the traps because they are assumed to be illegal, but this is not the case.

And the public is reminded that it is an offence to interfere with the traps.

The fishery programme is in place to allow the Island to derive benefit from this fishery resource while maintaining the guinea chick population.