Improved Selectivity in Demersal Trawl Gear

Summary

This report describes work undertaken by Seafish under MAFF Commission MF0601. The work investigated how best to position mesh panels in Nephrops trawls to reduce the by-catch levels of white fish. The work was very much practically biased: sea trials were carried out under commercial conditions and took into account problems associated with fishermen’s acceptance of gear innovations. Principal among these was any loss of marketable catch. The trials vessel MFV Heather Sprig operated a twin trawl system. One trawl was rigged with a conventionally sited square mesh panel and three variants were fished against that trawl. Ten days of sea trials were undertaken. In evaluating the variants a number of factors were taken into account: This report has been produced from a scanned original and may therefore contain some formatting and other inaccuracies. In cases where this affects the technical content, a paper copy of the original report can still be obtained from Seafish.

Publication Reference No.

SR422

Publication date

01 May 1993