Separating fish from prawns in bottom trawls

Summary

The Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus, commonly called the “prawn”, is widely distributed around the UK and is the main species for a number of important trawl fisheries. The animals are caught by specially designed light bottom trawls with a small mesh, on grounds where the seabed usually consists of fine cohesive mud in which they excavate burrows. But in many Nephrops fisheries because of the small mesh, there can be a significant by-catch of white fish, often of undersized commercial species. This is particularly true in the Irish Sea with whiting and the Bay of Biscay with hake. It would, therefore, make a lot of sense from the point of view of conservation if, when trawling for Nephrops, this catch could be separated from the undersized fish and moreover only those fish of marketable size retained.

Author

• Seafish Technology

Publication Reference No.

1986/03/FG

Publication date

01 January 1986