Our Solutions

OUR SOLUTIONS

ECO-CATCH is working holistically to develop bycatch reduction technologies to support sustainable fishing across the North Sea and Baltic Sea. ECO-CATCH includes a consortium of 15 partners from across the seafood value chain, including fishers and other industry innovators, leading scientists, and certification standards agencies.

Alongside technical innovations, ECO-CATCH will be exploring ways to support uptake of these technologies. From policy roadmaps, to certification requirements, we will work holistically to understand the technical, social and economic feasibilty of our technologies.

© Thünen Institute/Th.Noack

ECO-CATCH centres on 10 promising technologies designed to:

  • Boost the ability of fleets to avoid vulnerable habitats and areas of high bycatch risk, allowing fleets to refine their activity.
  • Reduce the bycatch of juvenile fish and sensitive species such as cod and harbour porpoise through more selective gear or alternative gear to replace traditional ones.

To support wider uptake of the solutions within our catalogue, we will demonstrate their viability in commercial fishing conditions. Alongside this we will address legal and social barriers to their adoption with the development of a policy roadmap and enable the use of these new technologies to be recognised and rewarded by market incentive schemes.

REFINE

Through the development of fisher decision support tools, that provide real-time information on sensitive species and habitats, we will enable fishers to refine their activities.

REDUCE

By co-developing bycatch reduction technologies, we will reduce bycatch risk for sensitive species in fisheries across the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

REPLACE

In some cases, new gear designs will be developed to replace conventional fishing gear. These new gears will be co-designed with the sector to reduce bycatch risk while maintaining performance.

DEMONSTRATE

We will trial all solutions aboard fishing vessels to demonstrate their performance in real-world settings. We will assess the technical performance as well as undertake economic assessments, and understand social and legal barriers to adoption.

EXAMPLE: HABITAT MAPS IN THE BALTIC SEA

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EXAMPLE: POLICY ROADMAP

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EXAMPLE: CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

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ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

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THE ECO-CATCH TECHNOLOGIES CATALOGUE

Decision Support Tool with integrated real-time in-trawl detector
Escape panels enhancers
KingGrid - New grid concept design
Megafauna excluder
Gentle chain mat for beam trawls
Visual deterrents in set nets
Alternative pot concept for valuable fish
Multi-species pot for crustaceans
MicroSeine - a small-scale demersal seine system

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