reducing fishing impacts

• Management:

  • Catch quotas 
  • Net design 
  • Restricted fishing 
  • No take zones 
  • Minimum catch size 
  • Maximum catch size 
  • Captive rearing and release 
  • Biodegradable equipment to reduce ghost fishing 
• Total allowable catch - EU waters, shared between EU countries as quotas. 

  • Legal upper limits 
  • Species specific 
  • All fish landings documented 
  • Fines 
• Mesh nets are made of diamond mesh that closed under tension. Some contain escape hatches and acoustic deterrents. 
• The number and size of boats and nets is restricted, the number of days at sea is also controlled. 
• No take zones are areas with bans on fishing, allowing breeding by legally designating areas of conservation - exclusion zones. 
• Closed seasons are bans on fishing during particular times of the year - salmon 14th feb ---> 30th sep. 
• Minimum catch sizes allow greater recruitment (biomass) before capture. Undersized fish are returned and minimum net sizes. Only works if length correlates with sexual maturity. 
• Population seeding is when young fish are raised and released to be later caught. 
• Biodegradable nets mean that there is less chance of any lost nets ghost fishing.  
• Streamers deter seabirds from baited hooks - albatross
• Setting lines at night reduces birds caught. 
• Pole and line fishing is very specific so little bycatch and carried out by local people.