GIL!NET SELECTIVITY AND FISH COMPOSITION IN ERE FISHING CHANNEL, OGUN STATE, NIGERIAOlopade O.A, I.O.Taiwo and O.O. OyesanyaAbstract Gillnet Selectivity and fish composition was studied in Ere fishing channel,Ado-odo/Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria between January to September, 2007.The study aimed at improvement of fishing gear for exclusion of both undersized fishes and by catch for the purpose of management conservation of the channel.The study was carried out using gillnet fleet each comprising nets with mesh 25mm, 38mm, 5Imm and 63mm stretched mesh. Results of the study show that twelve species belonging to I 0 families were caught in the different mesh sizes during the sampling period. Percentage relative abundance of species was highest for Chrysichthys auratus (22.8%), Tilapia zilli (14.3%) and Polypterus senegalenesis (14%) while Synodontis obesus had the least accounting for 2.44% of the specimen.The families Cichlidae and Mormyride were represented with two species. The remaining 10 fish families were represented with only one species each. Further results show that the highest catches by number at both dry and wet season are obtained from 25mm mesh size while the highest catches in terms of weight are obtained from 5 I mm mesh size for the two seasons.The least catch in weight was recorded in nets mesh size 25mm accounting for 9.2% while the least catch in number was recorded in nets with mesh size 63mm accounting for 5.5% of the total number of fish caught. Investigations of the gear reveal that the most range of mesh size was 51mm and 60 mm.
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