|
|
The Fishing Technology Unit (FTU) belongs to the Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR)
of the National Research Council (CNR). FTU makes valuable contributions to the
development of the Fishing Industry by undertaking research and development activities
in fishing gear technology. In particular, FTU deals with the study, development
and application of natural sciences and technology for optimizing fish capture and
fishing operations.
FTU concerns not only with fishing gear and relevant vessel features, but also with
certain aspects of a wide range of biological and environmental factors and their
interrelations which relate to the accessibility to catch of fish population and
the opportunities for the development of fishing as a whole.
The emphasis on applied Research and Development (R&D), serving application
and practical purposes, distinguishes the technological scientific activity of FTU
from academic research, which however depend on a variety of scientific and engineering
disciplines involving specialized research.
The objective of FTU Programmes is to promote the sustainable development of the
sea fisheries sector through the pursuit of new fishing opportunities and techniques,
conservation measures and catch handling practices as well as the renewal, modernisation
and restructuring of the Italian fishing fleet.
ISMAR’s Fishing Technology Unit has been at the forefront in gear technology development
in Italy with a major emphasis on developing new fishing opportunities through technical
innovation, technology transfer and conservation measures.
In line with these aims, the main fields of activity of the FTU staff laid the following
topics:
• Development and optimization of existing fishing gear design and new trawl technology;
• Development of energy saving fishing gears;
• Measurement and modelling of the engineering performance of the fishing gears;
• Evaluation and reduction of by-catches, physical and biological environmental
impacts of different fishing gears;
• Development of new, future-oriented fish-capture technology using both active
and passive types of gear;
• Development of efficient and species- and size-selective fishing gear;
• Development of fish technology in order to ensure appropriate quality of catch;
• Technological training of Italian Coast Guard fishery inspectors;
• Aspects of fish behaviour relevant to fish capture;
• Development of experimental sampling gears;
• Laboratory testing of netting material properties;
• Data-processing, Statistics, and Modelling.
The FTU has also played a major role nationally in developing procedures and software
for instrumented sea trials. Over the past twenty years this knowledge has been
used extensively by the National Demersal Resources Group (GRUND) involved in trawl
surveys to assess demersal recourses in the Italian waters.
The Fishing Technology Unit undertakes a wide range of projects concerned with the
rational exploitation and management of fisheries. Recently, the FTU staff played
a leading role in the development of size- and species-selective trawls, the understanding
of fish behaviour in relation to fishing gears, the mathematical modelling of netting
mechanics and hydrodynamics and the development of many related practical and statistical
methodologies of fishing.
FTU has considerable experience in carrying out EU shared cost projects and has
been involved in many national and European projects within the FAR, AIR, FAIR and
most recently the FP5 and FP6 programmes and in EU Studies. |
|