Fisheries and Survey Technology

Aussetzen eines Schleppnetzes über das Heck des Fischereiforschungsschiffes „Solea“, aus der Perspektive eines Schwimmers. — setting a trawl gear from RV "Solea"

With cameras we observe the behaviour of fish (here cod) in trawl gears.

Fishery will always have an impact on the marine environment, but we can try to minimise the impact as much as possible. At the same time, fisheries must not only be ecologically sustainable, but also economically sustainable. Technical innovations play a prominent role in this.

The aim of the Fisheries and Survey Technology working group is therefore to develop and test technical innovations for various fisheries that enable sustainable fishing. This applies to beam trawling in the North Sea (for sole and crab) as well as to other trawl fisheries and passive fishing with gillnets. A particular challenge is the reorientation of European fisheries policy with the introduction of a ban on discards in European waters (Field of Activity: Fisheries Management). More than ever, this requires more selective gears in which only the species and sizes desired and marketable by the fisherman are caught, or alternative fishing methods that help reducing the impact on the seabed or avoid bycatch of seabirds or sea mammals.

At the same time, fuel consumption and sorting effort on board are to be reduced to make fishing more economically sustainable as well. In addition to technical solutions for fishing, the working group supports the sea-based work of the fisheries institutes with the maintenance, development and operation of various technical devices for collecting marine data. This includes gear sensor systems, measuring systems, various remote-controlled underwater vehicles, as well as underwater observation technology.

News

New sorting grid to reduce bycatch in the shrimp fishery

To catch the shrimps (Crangon crangon), which are only a few centimetres in size, in the North Sea shrimp fishery, nets with a relatively small mesh size of approx. 22 mm are used. In order to allow large animals of non-target species (e.g. fish) to escape, the use of so-called selection devices is mandatory for this fishery in Europe. As existing selection devices has different limitations, we are working on new solutions.

Gear technology

Projects

The Fisheries and Survey Technology working group coordinates or is involved in various national and international projects. Working on projects allows us to cover a wide range of topics

Survey technology

We provide complex technical systems for marine observation for the Thünen Institutes, without which modern marine science can no longer be carried out.