<![CDATA[The coastal waters of Bojongsalawe Village, Pangandaran, hold substantial potential for Spotted Babylon (Babylonia spirata) commodities. However, local fishermen still rely on traditional intuition to determine the soaking duration of bottom traps (bubu jodang), necessitating a scientific basis to establish optimal fishing efficiency. This study aims to analyze the effect of different trap soaking durations on the catch weight of Babylonia spirata and determine the most effective soaking time in Bojongsalawe waters. Employing a field experimental method (sea trial) with a single-factor Randomized Block Design (RBD), this research tested three soaking time treatments: 5 hours (P1), 10 hours (P2), and 24 hours (P3) with nine replications, using salted sardine (tembang) fish as standard bait. The results demonstrated that the 24-hour soaking treatment yielded the highest total catch weight of 21.60 kg (mean 2.40 kg/unit), followed by the 10-hour treatment with 15.60 kg (mean 1.73 kg/unit), and the 5-hour treatment with 2.98 kg (mean 0.33 kg/unit). One-Way ANOVA testing confirmed that soaking duration significantly affected catch weight (F = 4.668; Sig. = 0.019 < 0.05), while Bonferroni post-hoc analysis revealed a highly significant difference between the 5-hour and 24-hour treatments (Sig. = 0.016). These findings provide technical recommendations for fishermen to synchronize trap soaking durations with the nocturnal feeding behavior of Babylonia spirata.]]>
