An assessment of nets with a square mesh panel as a whiting conservation tool in the Irish Sea Nephrops fishery

Published source details Briggs R.P. (1992) An assessment of nets with a square mesh panel as a whiting conservation tool in the Irish Sea Nephrops fishery. Fisheries Research, 13, 133-152.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Fit mesh escape panels/windows to a trawl net Action Link

Fit mesh escape panels/windows to a trawl net

A replicated, paired, controlled study in 1990 of bottom fishing grounds in the Irish Sea, UK (Briggs 1992) reported that diamond mesh prawn trawl codends fitted with a square mesh escape panel caught fewer unwanted and undersized whiting Merlangius merlangus than conventional trawls without an escape panel in a fishery for Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus. Data were not statistically tested. Overall, trawl codends fitted with a square mesh escape panel retained 84% fewer undersized (<27 cm) whiting than conventional trawls. Trawl nets with a square mesh escape panel caught fewer undersized whiting for every tow (square mesh: 22–714 fish/tow, conventional: 52–2,952 fish/tow), and fewer undersized whiting for every kilogram of Nephrops in 17 of 19 tows (square mesh: 1–28 whiting/kg Nephrops, conventional: 1–70 whiting/kg Nephrops). The overall size composition of both whiting and Nephrops was similar for each trawl design. Data were collected in September and October 1990, from 19 valid paired trawl deployments, 3 to 11.5 h duration, performed under commercial fishing conditions. Two 70 mm diamond mesh trawls were fished simultaneously: one fitted with a square-mesh panel and one without. The square-mesh panel was 75 mm mesh size and 3 m long × 30 meshes in width and fitted to the upper trawl panel (see paper for specifications).

(Summarised by: Leo Clarke)