NEphrops and CEtacean Species Selection Information and TechnologY (NECESSITY)

Background

The long-term sustainability of some European fisheries is called into question due to the high bycatch. In many nephrops fisheries, the non-target catch is dominated by species subject to total allowable catch (TAC) and quota management controls, such as cod and haddock.

Netted adults may be in excess of the permitted quota or there may be an abundance of juveniles – all of whom must be discarded but few survive. In other fisheries, porpoises and dolphins are caught and drown in numbers that may exceed the population regeneration rate.

Main objectives

To develop effective and acceptable gear modifications (by-catch reduction devices) and alternative fishing tactics in cooperation with the fishing industry to reduce the by-catch and mortality of non-target fish species in European Nephrops fisheries, and determine the biological effects and socio-economic repercussions of using these.
To develop effective and acceptable gear modifications (by-catch reduction devices and acoustical deterrents) and alternative fishing tactics in co-operation with the fishing industry to reduce the by-catch and mortality of cetaceans in European pelagic fisheries, and determine the biological effects and socio-economic repercussions of using these.

Sub-objectives

To develop novel species-selective gear prototypes and alternative fishing tactics in co-operation with the fishing industry for use in the European Nephrops fisheries.
To review the current status of knowledge of cetacean by-catches in pelagic fisheries, using existing data sources and oncoming data collection programmes, and to collect additional biological data (age, year of maturity, causes of death) of landed cetaceans.
To develop novel species-selective gear prototypes and alternative fishing tactics in co-operation with the fishing industry for pelagic trawl fisheries where cetaceans by-catch may occur (pair trawling on bass, pair trawling on albacore, single boat and pair pelagic trawling on herring, mackerel and horse mackerel, fishery with high opening bottom trawls and midwater pair trawls on hake).
To compare the effectiveness of commercial available acoustic deterrents (pingers) on cetaceans.
To develop an interactive pinger in co-operation with a manufacturer.
To evaluate the potential biological and economic impacts of the technologies and tactics developed above.
To disseminate the results to relevant sectors in the fishing industry, and contribute to implementation of the technologies and tactics developed above.
To publish the results in scientific peer-reviewed fisheries magazines.

Summarising views and relation to policy development

The introduction of any bycatch mitigation measure needs to be accomplished by considering a wide range of issues but it is also fair to say that the introduction of by-catch reduction technologies into fisheries has not always been done in a systematic manner that has led to widespread adoption by fishermen.

There is much scope for hastily introduced mitigation measures to fail or possibly to increase bycatch rates if careful consideration is not given to these issues. In many cases there has been a failure by managers to consider all of the issues and impacts of adopting legislation to use by-catch reduction devices leading to:

Poor compliance by fishermen with regulations;
Negative Ecological Impacts;
Economic Impacts on stakeholders;
Technical Problems with the devices;
Biological Impacts;
Poor monitoring; and
Poor acceptance by stakeholders.

Responsible CNR-ISMAR

Antonello Sala (CNR-ISMAR, Ancona): a.sala@ismar.cnr.it

Partners

This project involves 23 partners from 14 different countries.

Partic. No.	Participant name	Country
Partner 1	Animal Sciences Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre	Netherlands
Partner 2	Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory	United Kingdom
Partner 3	Fisheries Research Services - Marine Laboratory	United Kingdom
Partner 4	Sea Mammal Research Unit	United Kingdom
Partner 5	Sea Fish Industry Authority	United Kingdom
Partner 6	Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer	France
Partner 7	Centre de Recherche sur les Mammifères Marins	France
Partner 8	Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute	Finland
Partner 9	Danish Institute for Fisheries Research	Denmark
Partner 10	ConStat	Denmark
Partner 11	Danish Research Institute of Food Economics (Fødevareøkonomisk Institut)	Denmark
Partner 12	Institute of Marine Research	Norway
Partner 13	Institute of Marine Research	Sweden
Partner 14	An Bord Iascaigh Mhara	Ireland
Partner 15	University College Cork , Dept. Zoology and Animal Ecology	Ireland
Partner 16	Centre for Agriculture Research - Sea Fisheries Department	Belgium
Partner 17	Portuguese Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries Research	Portugal
Partner 18	ICM. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas)	Spain
Partner 19	AZTI Fundación	Spain
Partner 20	Istituto di Scienze Marine - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche	Italy
Partner 21	National Centre for Marine Research	Greece
Partner 22	Institute of Marine Biology of Crete	Greece
Partner 23	Ege University , Fisheries Faculty (Fish Capture Section)	Turkey

Project Web-site

http://www.rivo.dlo.nl/sites/necessity/

Project Leaflet

Fishing Technology Unit Address
National Research Council (CNR) Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR) - Fishing Technology Unit
Largo Fiera della Pesca, 1 60125 Ancona - Italy
Tel.: +39 (071) 2078841; Fax: +39 (071) 55313. URL: www.ismaran.it/tecpesca
Any problems with this site, please contact postmaster@ismaran.it
For general info, please contact info@ismaran.it