4 replies to this topic

[Barry McCrindle]

http://news.bbc.co.u...ope/7737485.stm

[Barry McCrindle]

http://news.bbc.co.u...and/7738127.stm

[quiet waters]

i'd pay to see a net that lets cod escape but catches haddies, even if its small cod which are the same size as marketable haddock and whiting, still if it works then there must be plenty bulk, the experts are the men who work those waters so they'll know best, which brings me to my point, if its that easy why has nobody been using a net like this for years, physically choosing to reduce the level of discards, probably fear that they wouldn't catch enough bigger cod or haddock to survive while allowing smaller but marketable fish to escape.

[phalanx1710]

Hmmm... this is exactly what I'm trying to do for my final year project.

Seems to be going pretty well so far, and there are a good few ways to separate fish species based on their behaviour.

[quiet waters]

how? do they swim at different heights while in the mouth of the net? if so is it a species thing or a size thing? or do they float up higher as they tire and fall back into the net? would you have several panels the entire width and length of the net? seperate codends for each species? up to four codends on a multi purpose trawl for prawns and fish?

theres a world of difference between controlled trials and day to day use even if it did work, wouldn't fancy mending four groundsheets on the same net, as soon as it  has had a weight in it, how does that affect the way the net fished? plus a thousand other questions that i know nothing about but will be pertenant to those that would need to use such gear!!

my opinion is a simple one, if such things worked as well as hoped or claimed, then they would have been in common use many years ago, designed and made by fishermen, not on some drawing board somewhere by someone with little or no experience, no offence intended but in my time at sea any innovation i ever saw had been made by someone with plenty experience at the sharp end, or maybe its just me that never saw any benefit of any research done by gov. boats that did trials in my neck of the woods. hell, i've never even seen any data from them, even when i've asked for it.
was going to take that last bit back but the email i just recieved from brussels tells me nothing, it did tell me where i might find some of the information but i haven't had a chance to look yet.