Research on ecosystem-friendly fishing gear in the North Sea and Baltic Sea (EMFAF)

Background and Objective

For many years, the Thünen Institute has been developing and testing fishing gear in order to provide solutions to issues such as:

• Bycatch of commercially exploited, non-target, or even protected species
• Impacts on the marine environment (e.g. seabed disturbance)
• High energy consumption and associated CO₂ emissions

The challenges and problems vary between different fisheries in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, meaning that tailored solutions are required for each fishery. Accordingly, the Thünen Institute develops technical solutions, among others, for passive fisheries (including gillnet fisheries) in the Baltic Sea and various bottom trawl fisheries in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

The main focus of this project is the development and testing of passive fishing gear as an environmentally friendly alternative to beam trawls in the North Sea shrimp fishery. More information can be found here.

In addition, the project also addresses other ecosystem-friendly and alternative fishing gears. Examples include:

• Modifications of gillnets to reduce bycatch of seabirds and marine mammals
• Alternative fishing gears to avoid seabird and marine mammal bycatch and to mitigate conflicts between fisheries and the growing seal population in German waters