Developing Selective Gear

Developing Selective Gear: Nearing the end of the Journey

By Ana Witteveen

Can innovative gear designs prepare the fleet for the full landing obligation in 2019 Here, Quay Issues takes a closer look at an innovative design undergoing final testing on the MFV Amity II (PD177).

“Tea or coffee?” calls out the skipper, Phillip Reid. Down in the galley of the Amity, representatives from industry, science and government await Philip as they make final preparations for the upcoming trial. In a few short hours, the Amity will set sail with three observers from the Independent On-Board Observer Scheme (IOOS) for a final chartered trip to test the gear they have spent nearly four years developing.

With the discard ban coming into full effect in January 2019 and continued consumer demand for certified and sustainable seafood, fishermen are under pressure to show they’re minimising unwanted catch – undersize fish or fish they have no quota for.

In a mixed fishery, fishing selectively is easier said than done. To make it work, fishermen need commercially available and viable solutions and there is no one better to develop them than fishermen themselves.

As the countdown to full implementation of the discard ban continues, projects are underway around the UK, bringing together fishermen, scientists and gear technologists. CEFAS, Northern Ireland Gear Trials and the Gear Innovation and Technology Advisory Group (GITAG) are all hard at work developing and testing technical solutions to reducing bycatch.

“Innovation is the most difficult part of the gear development process,” explains Mike Montgomerie, Gear Technologist at Seafish, who helped develop and support the project. “It’s really important for industry to collaborate with scientists, gear technologists and gear manufacturers throughout the process to ensure they get the concept right.”

For the Amity, a twin-rig prawn trawler operating out of Peterhead, the gear development process began in 2013. “I’ve been trying out different gear modifications for the past five years and we’ve finally got something that really works,” says Amity owner Jimmy Buchan.

When Jimmy began work on gear selectivity, he was thinking from a business and marketing perspective. For him, developing the gear was about eliminating undersized fish, maximising high quality prawns and retaining a small amount of high-grade fish.

“I was looking for a way to maximise the value of my catch,” explains Jimmy. “But I also knew that things couldn’t keep going as they were in the industry. The prawn fisheries that we target aren’t MSC certified, so it’s important for us to find other ways to show that we’re fishing selectively and sustainably.”

Since 2015, Jimmy has worked closely with GITAG, Jackson Trawls and Mike Montgomerie to develop a piece of gear to achieve his ambitious goals of eliminating unwanted catch and maximising sales value.

The first step of the gear development process was to look at a scale model of the gear in the flume tank in Hirtshals, Denmark to see how it performed under different conditions. Once the first design was approved, a full-scale net was built and taken to sea on board the Amity. The prototype had an inclined square mesh net grid and two cod-ends, one above the other, each with a different mesh size.

The idea behind this design is that prawns drop through the inclined square mesh grid into the lower cod-end, while fish are guided over the grid and into the upper cod-end, where smaller fish can escape out of the larger mesh.

Testing took place in two stages. The first involved finding the best placement, angle and mesh size for the net grid to optimise the separation of prawns from fish. The second was to fine-tune the selectivity of the upper cod-end to release small and undersized fish without losing high value fish.

The final charter trip in August was the culmination of a lot of work. “It’s really the pinnacle. We’ve invested a lot of time and money into the development and testing of this gear, but it’s worth it because we’re investing in our future,” emphasises Jimmy.

During this final stage of testing, Philip tested different mesh sizes on the upper cod-end to figure out which would return the best catch composition. Three mesh sizes were tested against the standard 80mm mesh: 100mm, 110mm and 120mm.

Philip had been using this gear for several months before the final charter and has a good idea of what the results will be.

“I think the 110mm mesh will give us the best result,” Philip reasons. “The 100mm mesh is too similar to the 80mm and will retain too much small fish and the 120mm mesh will be too big and release too much high-grade fish.”

But the success of this gear isn’t just about catch composition. For the gear to be used commercially, it must be financially viable over the long term. Skippers can, to some extent, estimate the financial viability of a new piece of gear based on costs and earnings from a single trip, but these may not be accurate over the long term.

Seafish has developed a new standard method for assessing the financial viability of gear to help skippers gather accurate financial information from trials and make more informed decisions about gear. Scientists, fisheries managers, and other fishermen need hard evidence of economic performance to make policy and business decisions. The guidance is now also being used in scientific trials ensuring that scientists and fisheries managers alike understand that catch composition is only part of the story. Gear must be economically viable for businesses to ensure they can continue fishing.

“Vessel owners can make better decisions about which gear to use or how to tune the gear if there’s evidence that they can benefit financially from a gear change, either because they aren’t losing target species or gross, or if they’re counteracting income loss with lower costs” explains Mike Montgomerie.

Jimmy and Philip have already found that separating prawns from fish using the inclined net grid improves the value of their catch and reduces sorting time on board, compared to fishing with their old gear. They are also able to save on fuel by reducing drag and improve catch quality by reducing damage to the catch.

“Before this gear, I’d never seen such good quality or prices from a twin-rig,” Jimmy insists.

“What’s not to like?” adds Philip. “I can sell almost 100% of my prawns for a good value because they are such good quality, and I can select out the small fish so that I’m maximising the value of my catch.”

Philip goes on to say “I’d rather have less bulk but a more marketable catch, than a larger bulk that I can’t sell.”

“Businesses need to remain profitable,” says Mike. “If the gear isn’t going to be financially viable, there’s no sense in using it, no matter how selective it is.”

For the Amity’s final charter, financial data was officially collected using the standard method developed by Seafish. The financial assessment, which includes estimating operating costs and gross fishing income, show which upper cod-end is best for business.

Jennifer Mouat, GITAG Project Manager said, “The economic data collected during the final scientific trial will provide much needed evidence of the commercial viability of this gear modification to help inform business and policy decisions related to the acceptance of this gear.”

The development stage of the Amity’s net is now coming to an end. Trials have shown that the gear can effectively reduce bycatch; the financial assessment will also hopefully prove that this has been achieved without negatively impacting profits. The next step involves taking the gear forward to get it approved for commercial use.

“Everything we’ve done has been building to this,” explains Jimmy. “We’ve finally got a piece of gear that gives us high quality prawns and whitefish, which wasn’t possible before. If we can get it approved, it’ll be available for other vessels to use, giving prawn trawlers more options.”

“Because it’s been so thoroughly tested,” adds Mike, “other vessel owners should be able to pick it up easily. Obviously every vessel is different, but with some tweaks others will hopefully get similarly positive results.”

“If it gets approved for commercial use, I’d definitely be interested in using it,” confirmed another skipper operating in the same fishery.

GITAG is keen to work with other skippers who are interested in trying this gear. “We want to make sure that other boats get the right set up so that the gear works for them as well,” says Jennifer.

So what’s next for this gear?

To find out more about what it takes to get a gear modification approved for commercial use, Quay Issues caught up with Jane MacPherson of Marine Scotland.

“The Amity is a fantastic example of the kind of progress we hoped to see come of the landing obligation. We have a real opportunity with this gear to translate an innovative design into something concrete which can be taken forward to a commercial scale.”

Currently this gear cannot legally be used commercially without an official derogation because of the different mesh sizes in the upper and lower cod ends. Using the scientific evidence gathered on the Amity trials, the government may be able to either change current technical regulations, or approve an on-going derogation allowing others to use the gear on a trial basis. Jane went on to say that if the final report for the gear returns the expected results and is scientifically sound, then Marine Scotland will do what they can to allow it to be used commercially, “We’ll try to find the best way to enable continued use,” says Jane.

Jane noted the many challenges surrounding the landing obligation, but sees technical innovation as an important tool to make it a workable policy.

“Selectivity issues are different in each fishery, but our hope is that innovative technical solutions will continue to be developed in areas where improvements can be made,” explains Jane.

Creating innovative gear that works is a repetitive and sometimes lengthy process, but the Amity trials show that determination and perseverance can pay off. Getting selective gears like this one on the market will better prepare fishermen to operate profitably under the new landing obligation.

At the end of the day, fishing must remain profitable for the industry; it must be economical to go to sea. After all, sustainability is about livelihoods and communities as well as the environment. We need information on all these aspects to ensure good decision making and choices when it comes to managing fisheries. Without the economic data, you can only tell half of the story.

The Amity trials show strong evidence for the net grid design operating profitably while reducing unwanted catches. This is a prime example of industry leading the way in developing technical solutions that are both practical and economically effective, proving that playing by the rules of the landing obligation doesn’t have to drive fishermen out of business.