The Gearing Up project will help fishermen, net makers and fisheries managers find practical ways to reduce bycatch – or unwanted catches – in commercial fisheries. Launched to help identify solutions for different vessels to meet challenges of the Europe-wide ‘Landing Obligation’ (LO), the project aims to bring together data on gear selectivity trials that have taken place in the North Sea and North Western Waters since 2002 and make it available via an online tool. Gearing Up users will have access to precise results from the applications of gear innovations anywhere, anytime, so they can make an informed decision about modifications to their fishing gear.

The Gearing Up tool contains practical, detailed information about gear performance and the difference in catches observed in over one hundred gear selectivity trials tested in Northern European fisheries, broken down by species and other factors. Users can see the exact results of the gear tested in a given fishery and make an informed decision about whether to use those modifications or similar ideas, on their vessel.

The mission for this project is to:

• Support fishermen across Northern Europe to:
  • access a coherent collection of selective gear modification trials,
  • understand what modifications suit their own vessel, fishery and area of operation
  • implement changes to reduce unwanted catch
  • meet the requirements of the Landing Obligation.

What is the Landing Obligation?

In a quest to eliminate discards from European fisheries, the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) established the Landing Obligation (LO)  – a requirement to retain on board all quota species caught. This is also commonly referred to as the ‘discard ban’. The LO has been gradually phased in since 2015, with final, full implementation due from 1st January 2019. The Landing Obligation will apply to many commercial species in all EU waters, and this project focuses on the North Sea and North Western waters. ‘North Sea’ covers ICES areas IIIa and IV and includes IIa for demersal fisheries. North Western waters cover ICES areas Vb, VI and VII.

What does it mean for fishermen?

The introduction of the Landing Obligation has represented a step-change in fishing practices for fishers across Europe, who previously were able to throw excess or unwanted catch overboard. Full implementation and compliance with the Obligation will represent a significant challenge across the continent’s mixed fisheries picture.

Finding solutions to the Landing Obligation

Gear selectivity has a big part to play in reducing unwanted catch at source – before taken from the sea – and there has been a substantial amount of research into which gear modifications can successfully minimise discarding for a range of species and fisheries.

The project brought together a partnership of diverse and complementary organisations and professionals:

• Cefas: Project Initiators, scientific input, data management and design
• Mindfully Wired Communications: Project Management, communications and outreach
• Funding Fish: Project sponsors and finance
• Fishing into the Future: Process design and workshops + outreach
• Dewsign: website design and technical input
• Discardless: data contributions and coherence

Fishing into the Future provided a convening and process design service to the project, supporting engagement with the fishing industry through targeted workshops and communications with fishermen, net makers and others, seeking to understand the essential information that fishermen want to know about gear modification trials and the outcomes from those trials.

Following the launch of the tool in December 2017, the project team will be further testing and collecting feedback from the industry about how the tool is working for them. This will then be considered in the context of a Phase II for the project, where additional funding will be sought to support the development of further functionality as identified by the period of review and reflection.

Fishing into the Future will be designing and facilitation for a workshop in Stellendam, Netherlands in April 2018 to capture the thoughts and feedback of the Dutch fishing fleet on this project. Please contact us if you would like to also feedback on your experiences with the tool.

The project will deliver a celebratory event in October 2018 to mark the formal end of Phase I of Gearing Up. It is expected that there will be considerable interest in further work for this project, as it crystallizes thinking around gear selectivity and compliance with the Common Fisheries Policy legislation.