Selective properties of the cutaway trawl and several other commercial trawls used in the Farne Deeps North Sea Nephrops fishery

Discarding of roundfish species in many European Nephrops fisheries remains at relatively high levels, despite the existence of mandatory gear-based technical measures specifically aimed at mitigating this phenomenon. This work reports on a new design of Nephrops trawl (the cutaway trawl), tested in the Farne Deeps fishery of the North Sea, and which reduced by-catches of whiting by 50% (across the length range), without any loss of Nephrops. The cutaway trawl could therefore potentially be used to reduce discarding of this species in certain fisheries. Several comparisons are made between the cutaway trawl and three designs of commercial trawl in existing use in Nephrops fisheries. Comparisons are made from both a biological and economic standpoint.Vessel size (length and engine power) did not affect the selectivity parameters obtained with the cutaway trawl, when the sea trials were repeated on vessels ranging from 9.9 m LOA (150 hp) to 21 m LOA (650 hp).