Acronym NA
Category
Fisheries
Title Fish Behaviour in relation to towed fishing gears Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Barry O'Neill Coordinator email oneillb@marlab.ac.uk
Coordinator institution
MSS - Marine Scotland Science (United Kingdom)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2010 End year 2013 Funding (€) € 606,711 Website NA Summary Recently, in Scotland, there has been some success with gears such as the 'Orkney' and 'Shetland' trawls which have demonstrated that catches of cod can be reduced while maintaining catches of haddock and whiting. These gears, however, have been designed following what can be described as an adhoc or a trial and error approach, which is time consuming and often unproductive. For instance these gears lose large quantities of monkfish and megrim, important components of the catch for certain sectors of the whitefish fleet. The Scottish Nephrops fishery is another fishery where there is a need to reduce catches of cod but maintain catches of Nephrops and other ground fish species. In this project we propose to carry out a series of experimental trials on the FRV Alba na Mara to observe and analyse the behavioural reactions of fish to towed gears and to test novel gear designs that reduce discarding. The focus, initially at least, will be on the reduction of cod discarding in the demersal whitefish and Nephrops fisheries but, there should be scope to address other emerging issues if and when they occur. The information and knowledge gleaned will also be used to support commitments relating to the effectiveness and selectivity of novel fishing gears and may provide the opportunity to test novel designs on commercial vessels.
Goals:(1) To develop a better understanding of the behavioural reactions of commercial fish species; (2) To develop towed gears and to reduce discarding of cod in commercial fisheries.
Keywords
Crustacean;
Bycatch;
Shellfish;
Fishing technology;
Trawling;
Environmental impact;
Gear selectivity;
Marine Region
13
Northern North Sea (27.IVa)
26
Northwest Coast of Scotland and North Ireland (27.VIa)
6
Central North Sea (27.IVb)
3
Marine Region Map
