Recently fishing technologists and others in Europe have been active developing and testing innovative fishing gears, including bottom trawls. In 2023 an international workshop on innovative fishing gear was held for the purpose of:

• Evaluating/endorsing a catalogue of gears considered ‘innovative’; 
• Assessing the level of uptake of these gears by fishers and investigate aspects that impact their uptake including finance, user-friendliness, health, and safety; 
• Discussing the main drivers that prevent their use, and where possible, include analysis of the socio-economic trade-offs and propose ways to facilitate their implementation; 
• Producing a report detailing the process taken and presenting the results; 
• Drafting summary advice based on the report produced. 

This workshop evaluated 75 innovative fishing gears, including in terms of their perceived level of complexity, capital cost, and potential return on investment. Experts also looked at the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors around gear uptake. Including these criteria was a new development on previous innovative gear workshops and helps take into account the ‘big picture‘ that trawl fisheries operate in.  

Key Points: 

• Almost 80% of the evaluated gears have a high level of technological readiness, and just under half have a minimal level of complexity 
• Most of the evaluated gears (80%) improve catching efficiency and most (80%) improve selectivity, but a few still need refinement.  
• 64% of these gears help reduce the negative impact on marine ecosystems, and none of them make things worse.
• Just over half (53%) of gears have no impact on deployment or retrieval.
• 44% make it more difficult for fishers to maintain and repair their gear; 33% of gears make no difference.  
• Only 1% of gears increase health and safety risks. 
• Reference to reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse emissions was apparent in 25% of gears. 

Access to the workshop report are available at: https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/report/Workshop_2_on_Innovative_Fishing_Gear_WKING2_/24299146?file=43161274 

This workshop builds on the findings of the first WKING workshop, which evaluated other gears using fewer criteria. This report is available at: https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/report/Workshop_on_Innovative_Fishing_Gear_WKING_/18618275?file=33396335 

Seen an innovation you think could take trawling into the future?

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