Abstract
Trawl-caught fish are frequently associated with deteriorated catch quality. This study presents a new dual sequential codend concept with the aim of improving the quality of trawl-caught fish by minimizing the frequency and severity of catch damage. During towing, the fish are retained in an anterior codend segment with the legislated mesh size. A quality improving codend segment, is attached to the aft part of the first codend segment. Its entrance is closed during the towing phase and opened at a predefined depth during haul-back. Comparing the quality of cod (Gadus morhua L.) retained in the sequential codend with cod caught in a conventional codend, demonstrated a significant improvement in the catch quality, i.e. reduction in catch damages. Cod caught in a conventional codend had only a 3.6% probability of being without visually detectable catch damage. The probability for catching cod without catch damage was five times higher when using the dual sequential codend. Furthermore, cod caught in the sequential codend had a significantly reduced probability of incurring specific catch damage, such as gear marks, poor exsanguination, ecchymosis, and skin abrasions.
Highlights
Fish caught with trawls are frequently associated with reduced quality compared with those caught using other fishing methods [1,2,3,4]
A total of 16 hauls were conducted with the dual sequential codend and a conventional codend in a twin-trawl setup
From each of the ten valid hauls, 25 cod were randomly sampled from each codend for the assessment of the catch damage, resulting in a total of 500 cod evaluated for catch defects
Summary
Fish caught with trawls are frequently associated with reduced quality compared with those caught using other fishing methods [1,2,3,4]. Poor catch quality may imply reduced price per quantity caught, and, reduced economic yield. This is mainly because poor catch quality limits the applications of fish for various products, as well as reduces their shelf life [5,6]. Poor catch quality is believed to increase the risk of discarding and high-grading [7], contributing to unaccounted fishing mortality. Poor catch quality is not in accordance with sustainable resource exploitation, from neither a fishery nor management point of view. As deteriorated catch quality due to the catching process is impossible to improve a posteriori, even with best practice processing procedures, preventing catch damage is key to improve catch quality
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