Development of selective gears and technologies for commercial fisheries (SELEKT)

The SELEKT project set out to develop and test new selective fishing gears and technologies, as well as document their selective effect with a view to these being implemented in commercial fishing in the North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Baltic Sea. The project was divided into two main pillars, the first being the adaptive development of selective fishing gears in direct co-operation with the industry (section 2 - 4) and the second focusing on building up knowledge on novel methodologies and preparing their application in fisheries (section 5). The gears developed under the 1st pillar were done so following the cooperative model between industry (fishers and net makers) and researchers, which was developed and tested in the Fast-Track projects. The technologies developed in pillar 2 focused on the collection of data, in real time, while fishing, the collection of data onboard fishing vessels, the use of new technologies to ob- serve fish behavior inside the trawl, and the use of technologies to reduce the impact trawling has on the seabed.

During the project, issues in a number of different fisheries throughout Danish waters were highlighted. All gears developed pertained to the demersal trawl fisheries, namely the Baltic Sea trawl fishery targeting flatfish, the Pandalus trawl fishery, the mixed demersal trawl fishery, the Norway lobster trawl fishery, and the Brown shrimp beam trawl fishery. The gears tested either aimed at reducing catches of unwanted species and/or sizes. In total, 20 gears were developed during the life of the project, 12 of which have been tested onboard commercial (10) and research vessels (2), and 8 of which were developed and tested in the flume tank towards the end of the project and are still to be tested.

This report provides and overview of the work undertaken during the project and presents the results from the individual trials in the form of fact sheets (Appendix 1). Furthermore, the report highlights some of the challenges which arose during the project and how these can be addressed in the future.