Clean Catch workshop tackles sustainability issues
7th April 2022
‘Hauling up Solutions’, the Clean Catch workshop held at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth on 24 March, included a presentation by Bally Philp from the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation on work undertaken by creelers, under the umbrella of the Scottish Entanglement Alliance, to eliminate mammal bycatch in creel fisheries.
Another was from Jerry Percy of NUTFA on the benefits of longlining and successful bycatch reduction in what is already a clean and highly sustainable fishery.
Yorkshire fisherman Rex Harrison presented startling figures on the virtual elimination of bycatch in the Yorkshire gill-net fishery, as well as insights into the traditional reef-net fishery undertaken for centuries by indigenous fishers on the western seaboard of America, which has a number of potential applications to other fisheries.
The workshop, put together by a steering committee with the involvement of Cefas scientists, Defra and fishing industry representatives, concluded with a series of group discussions on how the industry, with support from scientists and Defra, could implement much of what was discussed over the three days.
A full report of proceedings will be made available shortly.
This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.
