What kind of tactical methods do you use to avoid unwanted catches ?
Disclaimer : The views expressed in this report are those of the stakeholders that were interviewed and in no way represent the views of the research institutes, the national authorities or the European Commission.
Commonalities
There are less common approaches taken across the areas in the cases of tactical measures. Nevertheless, some commonalities were identified:
In all the areas, the fishermen changed the fishing grounds in response to high levels of the choke species or small fish. French fishermen highlighted area changes based on seasonal differences in what species could be found and where.
Avoidance of spawning/nursery areas was used as a tactic to avoid
Information sharing between fishermen on areas to be avoided due to choke or high levels of
“Moving on” was mentioned by both Irish and Azores fishermen. We think it is likely that this is often used by other fishermen, but maybe considered too obvious or routine to mention. It can be inferred from French and Greek fishermen’s comments that they also do this. The approach is implicit in elements of the Scottish Cod Conservation credit scheme, and has been developed by Dunn et al (2014). This is a key commonality that should merit further examination. Moving on is probably occurring in many fisheries, but possibly without much guidance of how far to move etc. This is potentially an area where scientists could help analyse what move on rules might be effective.
Change of target species was mentioned by both Danish and Azores fishermen, and may also be a tactic that is operating elsewhere but was too obvious to mention.
Fishermen developing their own quota approaches was suggested by Danish fishermen, and also occurs in the purse seine fishery in the Azores, where a daily limit was implemented to restrict the fishery to only meet the local market demand. It should be noted that this was not a fishery included in the survey, but was information from a representative of fisher’s organization. This would potentially be transferrable to the Greek fishermen but not under current systems. It would probably not be applicable for the Danish and Irish fishermen.
Specifics – that could be applied elsewhere
A number of tactics were identified in only one case study:
1. Changing of target species and Quota Leasing were identified in Denmark. Quota leasing is an approach that is not available to fishermen in many of the other case studies. Quota leasing is allowed in the Azores, but rarely occurs. While no quotas are currently mandated in the Mediterranean this approach is probably not transferable. Quota management in Ireland does not allow leasing, but potentially some approach that allows some flexibility in quota allocations may be of help.
2. Balearic fishermen identified two approaches that none of the others did:
a. Shorter hauls – this is probably a tactic that all could use. However, in the case mentioned, it was focused on reducing the size of the catch to avoid too many fish on the market, rather than specifically for discarding, but it should be a potentially valuable tool. It may well already be used in the other fisheries, but merits further investigation.
b. Use of the fish finder sonar. Again, this may well be already used, and was simply not mentioned, but should definitely be raised in any follow up interviews.
3. French fishermen also identified holding on to quota to give them options in other seasonal fisheries.
4. Azores fishermen mentioned changing the depth of fishing in response to the size of fish in the catch. In the “challenge” trials with Irish fishermen, changing depth was also mentioned as a way of avoiding choke. Like “move on” rules, this may also merit scientific investigation elsewhere.
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Citation :
Fiche What kind of tactical methods do you use to avoid unwanted catches ?, Author(s) : Dave Reid
DiscardLess Atlas [on line]. 2017. Reid et al., 2017. DiscardLess Deliverable D4.1: Initial avoidance manuals by case study including tactical, strategic and gear based approaches agreed by scientists and fishers.
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