The challenge
- Bycatch includes all non-target catches made by a fishing gear, encompassing both the accidental capture of protected species (PETS) and unwanted catches that are ultimately discarded for legal, technical or commercial reasons.
- This phenomenon has significant environmental, economic and regulatory consequences. From an ecological perspective, it affects biodiversity and can compromise the recovery of vulnerable populations. In economic terms, it generates additional costs for fleets, as it increases the time and effort required to sort and discard unwanted species. Furthermore, increasingly strict fisheries regulations require the adoption of strategies to reduce this impact, posing a challenge for the industry.
- Against this backdrop, the development of innovative technologies, improvements in fishing gear and sustainable management strategies have become key elements in moving towards more responsible and efficient fisheries.
The solution
A range of innovations have been developed and tested during oceanographic campaigns such as CASELEM.
The results
Systems have been developed to improve catch patterns in trawl fishing gears. These focus on modifying the size and shape of codend meshes, as well as implementing escape grids that facilitate the release of unwanted individuals. In some cases, LED lighting systems have been used to stimulate the escape of certain species, and many of these experiments are recorded with underwater cameras to observe the performance of the systems in situ.