Fishing gear options
About half of all fish caught in English and Welsh waters are
currently discarded. Very often, this is because fish are too small
to be landed legally or have no commercial value. Other reasons
include the fisherman not having enough quota for particular
species under the European Common Fisheries Policy.
Discards are widely regarded as unethical, a waste of natural
resources and disruptive to marine ecosystems. We work closely with
policy-makers and the fishing industry to improve the situation,
and to reduce discards to the practicable minimum.
Each fishery (and sometimes each vessel) requires its own
solutions to minimise the unwanted discarding. Our gear
technologists can:
- offer practical advice on a range
of gear configurations
- evidence and data from gear trials at sea
- insight into the environmental, social and economic
benefits that can be gained from adopting selective fishing
gears.
For more about our work in this area, including our
collaborations with the fishing industry and other stakeholders,
visit our Science section. Or contact
us.