Are you interested in additional technical methods 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

In the context of additional technical approaches, there was a relatively low enthusiasm for more gear changes. Two elements were identified in two case studies:

• Larger mesh size (which was already identified as a tool they were using) was identified by Irish and Greek fishermen, and is clearly an approach that could be used across all fisheries. It should be recognized that this may reduce the landable catch as well, but this identifies a clear role for gear technologists and the work in WP3. The analogous use of larger hooks in the Azores follows the same logic.
• Both Irish and Danish fishermen identified more flexible and faster approaches to testing out new discard reducing gears. While this is really a management issue, as it could require a relaxation of the gear regulations, it is clearly an important issue, and some means of allowing quick and easy derogations for fishermen to test a gear would be useful. This would be prior to approaching gear technologists to carry out specific selectivity trials.

Specifics – that could be applied elsewhere

On the basis of the interviews to date, no other major proposals were identified around gear based measures. Tamper proofing of fishing gear was identified by an Irish fisherman. The use of V-notching was identified in the Balearic case, however, this is widely used elsewhere already. Azores hand liners suggested that their approach/fishing method was more selective than long lining and should be adopted more widely in the Azores

By clicking on the orange bullet you will get Fishermen interviews. Material is based on WP4.1 Delivrable

Citation :

Fiche Are you interested in additional technical methods 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. http://www.discardless.eu/fishermen_story