This study investigated the efficiency of a sieve‐panel concept, intended to separate bycatch species from <i>Nephrops</i> (Norway lobster) in a trawl gear via mechanical and behavioural means. Four different designs of varying panel mesh size or inclination were tested in experimental fishing. For each design, the length‐dependent sieving efficiency, defined as the fraction of <i>Nephrops</i> or ...

The brown shrimp (<i>Crangon crangon</i>) fishery is of great socio-economic importance to coastal communities on the North Sea. The fishery is exploited by beam trawlers often using codends with very small mesh sizes, leading to concerns about catch rates of undersized shrimp. However, little information is available on codend size selection, making it difficult to provide scientifically based ...

The Nordmøre grid is regarded as an efficient bycatch reducing device and is used in various shrimp trawl fisheries globally. However, in some shrimp fisheries bycatch remains a problem that seriously impacts commercial trawl activities. This study tested and compared the performance of two versions of the Nordmøre grid in the Northeast Arctic Deepwater Shrimp (Pandalus borealis) fishery; a standard ...

The aim of this study was to provide practitioners working with trawl selectivity with general and easily understandable guidelines regarding the fish sampling effort necessary during sea trials. In particular, we focused on how many fish would need to be caught and length measured in a trawl haul in order to assess the selectivity parameters of the trawl at a designated uncertainty level. We also ...

The discussion of alternative harvest patterns in commercial fisheries has been raised by stock assessment and fishery modelers, especially in the wider context of balanced harvesting. But often, these theoretical approaches propose alternative exploitation patterns that are difficult to achieve within the current limitations in the selectivity characteristics of fishing gears, such as trawl gears. ...

The Nordmøre grid and the sieve panel are two of the main devices used to reduce fish bycatch in trawl fisheries targeting shrimp species. However, even when using such devices, some small-sized fish enter the codend of the trawl together with the targeted shrimp. Therefore, bycatch reduction remains a problem in some shrimp fisheries. One such fishery is the Northeast Atlantic deep-water shrimp ...