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Inside view of a trawl with experimental escape window setup — Floats under the escape window guide the fish upwards

The Fisheries and Survey Technology working group at the Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries develops solutions for sustainable fishing. We focus on various topics, such as bycatch avoidance, marine litter from fishery sources, energy consumption and environmental impacts.

Fishing has the potential to make a significant contribution to feeding the world, as it largely utilises very productive fish stocks. However, the basis for this is an ecological and economical sustainable fishery that uses biological resources, energy and the marine environment responsibly. Technical innovations play a key role here.

Accordingly, the fishery faces a wide range of challenges. Innovative research is crucial in order to tackle these various issues effectively. For this reason, the Fisheries and Survey Technology working group at the Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries is developing innovative technical solutions for various topics.

We are working on these topics

Reduction of unwanted bycatch

A current focus is on improving the selection of trawls for several species at the same time (multi-species selection). To do this, we use the different behavior of the various fish species.

Alternative fishing concepts

Fishing is one of the oldest human activities. Accordingly, its various methods and concepts have developed over many years and centuries. Although enormous technical development has of course taken place in recent decades, the underlying concepts have often hardly evolved at all. We have set ourselves the task of rethinking some of the basic concepts and developing alternatives.

Marine litter

Litter is also found in the sea. While a large proportion of it comes from sources on land, there is also litter that is caused by human utilisation of the sea, e.g. through fishing. In the North Sea and other seas, these are often the so-called Dolly Ropes. These coloured plastic threads are used by fishermen to protect the net. We are working on solutions to make the use of Dolly Ropes superfluous and thus significantly reduce marine litter.

Energy efficiency

Fishing requires energy. Some fisheries have a very high energy consumption. This is not only problematic from a business point of view, but also contributes to global warming due to the almost exclusive use of fossil fuels. One of the main starting points for reducing energy consumption are the fishing gears. Trawl nets in particular have a high energy consumption. We are working on optimising existing fishing gears and on developing and establishing alternative fishing methods with lower energy consumption.

Environmental impact

Like any human activity, fishing also has an impact on the environment. These can vary greatly depending on the type of fishing. Although the impact of bottom trawling on the seabed is controversial and the impact on the seabed depends on the type of fishing and the respective marine area, there are good reasons to reduce a possible impact. Reducing the interaction of the fishing gear with the seabed can also help to save energy, for example.

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Institute of

OF Baltic Sea Fisheries