WP5 - Development of tools and strategies for sustainable fishing

The WP5 - Development of tools and strategies for sustainable fishing is focused on the development of more selective fishing gears, on the reduction of the environmental impact of fisheries, on the development of new technologies to reduce energy consumption, and on Fisheries Economics.

The activities carried out within the actions included in WP5 focused on some experiments, such as fish survival experiment, and on the study, both in laboratory and sea trials, of substantial changes in fishing gears in order to reduce the impact on the seabed and improve their performance in terms of fishing and energy consumption. The effects of the use of some square mesh panels in particular areas of a standard bottom trawl have been evaluated, both in terms of catch and selectivity of the gear. A comparative analysis of the performance of different types of otterboards was performed, in order to determine the benefits of using floating otterboards on benthic impacts. With respect to the by-catch, the research activity included a series of discussions on the implementation of sorting grids for trawls nets (pelagic and demersal) and, for the species of decapod crustaceans present as bycatch, aspects related to their morphology.

Reducing the impact of fishing on the marine ecosystem by improving the selectivity of towed gears and increased survival of the species caught but not retained

Evaluation of the impact of towed gear on the bottom through different approaches

In the field of the reduction of energy consumption in fishing, a stand-alone system to monitor the main energy parameters of a fishing vessel has been developed and tested. The monitoring system has been preliminarily tested on the research vessel "G. Dallaporta" through dedicated sea trials. In a second step, such a system has been installed on a fishing vessel for the assessment of its operability and robustness.

From the point of view of economic analysis of fisheries, data related to the fisheries sector in Italy and in Europe have been identified, selected, structured and analysed. The information gathered helps to outline the main features of the "systems fishing" Europeans, highlighting strengths and weaknesses.

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