Research into Lost Gill Nets Sea Fish Industry Authority

Sea Fish Industry Authority
serving the UK Seafood Industry

Research into Lost Gill Nets

Seafish is currently involved in a six-nation partnership study examining the loss of gill-nets in European waters.

The study is looking at a whole range of fisheries in order to understand the process of net loss, how lost nets behave and ways of minimising the potential problem of lost nets continuing to catch fish.

The project is looking at nearly all the significant European fisheries and assessing the true extent of the problem. Each partner country has set up an advisory group of fishermen and these are very active in looking for realistic solutions to any problems that might exist.

According to Seafish Marine Technology Manager, Phil MacMullen, while the results of the study have still to be fully assessed, it is apparent that net loss is probably only a problem in areas where there is little groundswell or tidal movement, such as in the Baltic or in the deepwater fisheries.

The project is also looking at the management measures used in non-European countries to reduce the conflict between mobile trawl fisheries and the static gill-nets. This is a particular problem in deepwater where the gill-nets fish down the continental slope, whilst trawlers fish across it. The conflict is exacerbated through the difficulty of marking gill-nets with surface buoys in deepwater.

An international two-day workshop on the issue is planned for later this year. It will involve fishermen from eight countries and aims to produce a code of good practice to improve the conservation performance in this sector.

Ends 29 June 2001