Policy background on Improvements in Fishing Technology to reduce by-catch and discards

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)¹ sees its role as enabling the exploitation of living aquatic resources in a sustainable, economic, environmentally-friendly and socially responsible manner. With such a broad range of obligations to meet, the EU applies the precautionary approach and emphasizes the need for measures to protect and conserve living aquatic resources, exploit them in a sustainable fashion and endeavor, in as far as possible, to minimize the impact of fishing activities on the marine eco-system.

Fishing activities can impact the marine environment in a number of ways:

• Certain species may be over-fished
• Species may be fished in such a way as to cause juveniles to be caught in a disproportionate manner
• Other species living in the same space may be destroyed in the course of the fishing activity by the destruction of their environment (benthic communities) or accidental catching (birds, cetaceans and reptiles)

There are many ways in which these problems can be addressed and there is a considerable amount of research and development being carried out to ensure that fishing gear and fishing methods are as efficient as possible in targeting the intended species and, at the same time, having minimum impact on all other species.

Mesh Size

In EU waters several fish species swim together. Several species are, therefore, often caught in fisheries operations targeted at one or two specific species. North Sea catches, for example, are often made up of cod, haddock and whiting which share the same areas.

But, because of biological differences among these species, one net mesh size will retain cod better than haddock and certainly better than whiting. So the ideal mesh size for one stock cannot be ideal for the other two. Nonetheless, nets with larger meshes have been shown to allow juvenile fish to escape and where this has been established it is important that it be enforced in a transparent and even-handed fashion. For this reason, it is also important to develop the technology to regulate and measure mesh size as well as the net itself.²

Selective Fishing Gear

The development of selective fishing gear is of major importance in the effort to eliminate both by-catch and discards. As well as using larger meshes, various devices can be employed to increase selectivity. A panel made of wide meshes can be inserted in trawls to allow small fish and some non-targeted species to escape. Panels made of square meshes can also be installed on trawl nets as they have the advantage of staying open even under the pressure created by towing the net, thus allowing young fish to escape out of the net. Escape grids installed in trawl nets play the same role as square mesh panels.²

Accidental By-catch

There is an additional concern regarding the rate at which cetaceans, turtles and birds are accidentally caught, particularly in gillnets. This problem can only be dealt with through a series of measures which reduce the likelihood of these non-fish species being caught such as developing escape panels, but other options, such as reduction in fishing effort in certain fisheries and the prohibition or limitation of certain types of gear are also possibilities. Investigations into the behavioral characteristics of cetaceans have already led to improvements with the use of the acoustic exclusion devices or "pingers" attached to nets.

Benthic Communities

There is a possibility of incidental damage to the sea-bed and the benthic communities that live there when certain types of towed fishing gear are used. A great deal more research and evaluation is required to determine how far-reaching this damage could be but there could be long-term implications for commercial species further up the food-chain. In the meantime, there is growing pressure to close significant areas of the sea to fishing which could have significant socio-economic effects on fish-dependent communities. A preferable alternative would be the development of fishing gear with a lower environmental impact.

The CFP, both current and previous, provides for the continuous reassessment and additions to the range of more selective fishing methods and measures to reduce the impact of fisheries on marine ecosystems and non-target species.

The European Commission supports research which can address the discards and by-catch problem. The development of modified, low-impact fishing gear will help the EU and Member States to meet their international obligations for the protection of the marine environment, habitats and species. In addition, all developments in the field of fishing gear technology are monitored and the implications for the marine habitat and the socio-economic consequences are taken into account.³

Summaries

The summaries (Technical Leaflets) relating to research in the reduction of by-catch and discards are

• Developing low-impact fishing gear [DEGREE]
• The impact of fishery discarding rates on seabird communities [DISCBIRD]
• Increasing the use of fishery by-products for human consumption [FISHERY BY-PRODUCTS]
• Reducing the by-catch in European fisheries [NECESSITY]
• Surviving the trawl [SURVIVAL]

Footnotes

1. Council Regulation (EC)2371/2002. 20 December 2002. On the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy. Official Journal of the European Union, L358(31/12/2002) (2002) 59-80.

2. http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/management_resources/conservation_measures/technical_measures_en.htm

3. Council Regulation (EC) 850/1998. 30 March 1998 and amendments. For the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms. Official Journal of the European Union, L125(27/04/1998), 1-36