Thrirteen participants work together to develop new gears/fishing techniques that have a lower impact on benthic habitats, to quantify the potential reduction of the physical impact as well as the effects on benthic communities, to weigh the socio-economic consequences of these changes against those of alternative management measures, e.g. closing of areas.
They do so by focusing on the development of modified towed gears. A generic approach is chosen in which cases (e.g. North Sea, Mediterranean) can be worked out. The overall ecological impact to benthic systems will be assessed by developing physical/biological models verified by tests at sea. This will provide a tool to fisheries managers to identify gear and sediment type combinations which will minimise impact to the habitat.
A group of experts will work to appraise the socio-economic consequences of the new gears and techniques. Gear types under study involve: otter trawls, beam trawls and dredges. The project consists of six work packages, as follows:
WP 1: Management and co-ordination
WP 2: Modelling and quantification of benthic impact
WP 3: Otter trawl modifications
WP 4: Beam trawl and Dredge modifications
WP 5: Economics
WP 6: Dissemination and implementation
The duration of the project is 38 months from 01/02/2006. Special emphasis will be given to consultation with and dissemination of the results of the work to the fishing industry through national Industrial Liaison Groups and an adequate implementation of alternative fishing gears and techniques.
