Welcome to ECO-CATCH

WHO ARE WE?

ECO-CATCH brings together a consortium of 15 partners from across the seafood value chain, including fishers organizations and other industry innovators, leading scientists, and market incentives schemes. The project is coordinated by DTU Aqua and funded by the European Union.

We work collaboratively across sectors on innovations that will help fisheries in the Baltic and North Sea to achieve environmental, social, and economic sustainability. We will trial and refine 10 innovative fishing technologies and gears that reduce: bycatch of sensitive species and juvenile fish; and impact on habitats.

OUR MISSION

To make sustainable fishing practices a commercial reality in the Baltic and North Sea through proven, scalable innovations that protect sensitive species, young fish, and key habitats.

OUR WORK

ECO-CATCH is working across two European seas, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. These two seas meet at the Skagen peninsula in Denmark, where the Skagerrak and Kattegat straits visibly come together.

Species can move between the Baltic and the North Sea, and face similar threats. However, the two seas are home to their own distinct species, habitats, and fisheries, posing unique challenges to achieving sustainability.

The North Sea

The North Sea is situated between the UK, Norway, and mainland Europe, and is host to a wide variety of habitats and commercially significant fish species. Juvenile fish and sensitive species such as sharks, skates, and rays are particularly vulnerable to bycatch in this region.

THE BALTIC SEA

The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed area of the North Atlantic between Scandinavia and mainland Europe. An inland sea with brackish water, the region has several sensitive habitats and is home to the critically endangered Baltic harbour porpoise. This area has significant interaction between fisheries and marine mammals.

OUR CASE STUDY FISHERIES

ECO-CATCH is working with 9 fisheries to test solutions to reduce bycatch. Included are 6 technical and modified gear solutions (shown in purple), and 3 new gear solutions (shown in green). These are: