Bottom Trawl

Haddock is an important species for Irish demersal fisheries. In 2018 the Irish fleet landed 3500 tonnes worth approximately €6.5 million.   

Haddock live near the sea bed at depths between 10 and 200m and Irish waters provide important spawning and nursery areas for the species. Irish waters are at the southern end of the distribution of haddock, allowing them to grow fast and mature early. They reach a length of around 27cm after two years of growth and most haddock are mature at age two. However, haddock are a cold water species and warm winters have been linked to poor recruitment success. All haddock stocks occasionally produce extremely large fluctuations in stock size which can make managing the stock at the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) level challenging. 

The vast majority of Irish haddock catches are made with trawls (otter trawls and seines). The Celtic Sea (ICES area 7b-k) is the most important area for Irish haddock fishing. 

TR1 gears (trawls and seines with a codend mesh size ≥100mm) are responsible for the majority of the haddock catch by Irish vessels in the Celtic Sea (57% of landings and discards in 7.b-c, e-k between 2014 and 2016; STECF, 2017a). The TR1 fishery in the Celtic Sea is characterized as a mixed fishery, mainly targeting gadoid species, such as haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), cod (Gadus morhua), and whiting (Merlangius merlangus) as well as anglerfish and megrim.  

TR2 gears (trawls and seines with a codend mesh size range 70-100mm) are responsible for most of the remainder of Irish haddock catches in the Celtic Sea (29% of landings and discards in 7.b-c, e-k between 2014 and 2016).  

Titi shrimp (Protrachypene precipua) is a tropical species that inhabits the Eastern Pacific Ocean from Nicaragua to Ecuador. Titi shrimp distribution in Ecuador, particularly in the Gulf of Guayaquil, varies depending on the season with a considerable migration in different stages of its lifecycle through the estuaries and surrounding waters. 

The industrial titi shrimp fishery in Ecuador started in the 1960s in the Gulf of Guayaquil using bottom-trawl nets. Since then, the titi shrimp fishery has supported the livelihoods of thousands of Ecuadorians that participate in different parts of the supply chain, including fishing, processing and export. The industrial fleet reached the maximum number of vessels in 1980 with 74. Since then, the fleet has diminished to reach the current effort with 39 authorized vessels.

According to the National Fisheries Institute, the landings of titi shrimp averaged 6.5 thousand metric tons per year in the 2007-2019 period with a minimum of 5.9 thousand in 2007 and a maximum of 7 thousand tons registered in 2010. It is estimated that the industrial titi shrimp fishery generates an annual income of 4.5-5 million dollars and operative revenues of 1 million for the fleet thanks to the export to USA and EU markets of 75% of the landings.

Since 2000, The industrial fishery has some management measures including a closed season, a geographic division for the authorized fleets, a daily allowed capture and the mandatory use of Turtle Excluder Devices (TED). The industrial fishery is also monitored through a Vessel Monitoring System and a network of fisheries inspectors deployed in the main landing ports. Additionally, the National Fisheries Institute keeps fishery-related historic data and, since 2013, the fleet participates in an onboard observers’ program.

Despite its economic importance, there is not enough information available related to the species biology or the fishery in general (e.g. not all the fishing mortality is well known). In addition, the current management scheme lacks of several elements that could benefit the target species and the environment.  Finally, a combination of weak international markets and the increasing producing costs, difficult the design and implementation of a harvest strategy and the correspondent control rules aimed at recovering the stocks to sustainable levels, mitigating the fishery environmental impacts and satisfying the increasing demands for social and environmental responsibility in the markets.

The Panama Republic is a relatively small country in surface (75,000 Km²), but has a substantial biological potential as seafood producing country thanks to its geographic location. Panama coasts add up to 2,988 kilometers, 1,700 in the Pacific and 1,288 in the Caribbean. The continental shelf has an extension of 250,900 Km² and the Exclusive Economic Zone reaches 319,188 Km²

The fishing activity in Panama occurs mostly in the Pacific Ocean with 95%, where also 80% of the populations inhabits. The Gulf of Panama upwelling during the dry season is the basis for the relevant fishing activities in the Panamanian waters.

The industrial fishing operates in the Pacific Ocean and focus on shrimp, small pelagics for reduction, tuna, dolphin fish and finfish species, being the export markets the main objective. The industrial shrimp fishery is one of the main economic activities for Panama. This activity started in the 1950 with 50 vessels growing up to 307 in the 1980’s. For 2004 Panama had registered 249 industrial vessels with shrimp fishing license which diminished to 170 in 2005. Currently, due the low yields, the number of shrimp vessels is below 150.

The Panama shrimp fishery is a multispecific fishery being the Western white shrimp the most important in volume and value, followed by the Crystal and Fidel shrimps. The fishery has been for years the most important in terms of income, revenue and jobs generated. However, after years of excessive fishing effort and the noncompliance with the management measures have placed the shrimp populations in critical status resulting in decreasing landings which, combined with the weaknesses of the international market and the increasing producing costs, difficult the design and implementation of harvest strategies and harvest control rules aimed at recovering the stocks to sustainable levels, mitigate the fishery environmental impacts and to satisfy the increasing  demands for social and environmental responsibility in the markets for the Panamanian production.

Project UK is working towards an environmentally sustainable future for UK fisheries by running Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) on 12 UK fisheries that have been selected by the UK seafood supply chain. They were selected due to their importance for the UK market.

Project UK has been developed in response to the demand from the supply chain, retailers, industry and NGOs. The project will commission an MSC pre-assessment to inform and develop an action plan for each fishery, which will identify improvements.

Nephrops are a commpercially important species of crustacean distributed throughout the northeast Atlantic from Iceland and the western coast of Norway in the north to the Atlantic coast of Morocco and the western and central Mediterranean. They are found predominantly in muddy sediment in which they build complex burrow systems, at depths of between 20 and 800m. Although they have a wide geographical range, there is no clear evidence of any significant migration between populations.

Total Annual Catch (TAC) quotas are set for each of the three ICES management divisions that overlay the Fishery, with total 2018 TAC set at 65,738t. Of this TAC, the West of Scotland, Irish Sea and North Sea Nehrops landed 42,622t (North Sea: 21,237t; West of Scotland: 11,842t; Irish Sea: 9,543t). Nephrops are predominantly landed by demersal trawl gear, accounting for 95% of landings, with the other 5% landed by creels. Scottish-registered vessels account for 67% of landings by weight, followed by Irish-registered vessels (27%) and English-registered vessels (6%).