Catch and release patterns for target and bycatch species in the Northeast Atlantic deep-water shrimp fishery: Effect of using a sieve panel and a Nordmøre grid

The Nordmøre grid and the sieve panel are two of the main devices used to reduce fish bycatch in trawl fisheries targeting shrimp species. However, even when using such devices, some small-sized fish enter the codend of the trawl together with the targeted shrimp. Therefore, bycatch reduction remains a problem in some shrimp fisheries. One such fishery is the Northeast Atlantic deep-water shrimp (Pandalus borealis) fishery where it is mandatory to use a Nordmøre grid. In this study, the bycatch reduction efficiencies and patterns for several fish species using the standard Nordmøre grid and an experimental sieve panel were investigated and compared. The effect of combining these devices was also explored. The bycatch reduction patterns differed significantly between the two devices and a more efficient bycatch reduction was obtained by combining them. However, while the loss of commercial-sized shrimp was only between 0 and 2% for the Nordmøre grid, it was between 37 and 56% for the tested sieve panel, making this completely unacceptable for commercial fishing. Therefore, before a sieve panel can be considered as an option for the fishery, other sieve panel designs that have a significantly lower loss of shrimp catches need to be identified.