FAST TRACK—Sustainable, cost effective and responsive gear solutions under the landing obligation

The Fast-Track project set out to develop and implement a framework pertaining to the development of new and modified fishing gears which was more inclusive of all stakeholders, namely the fishing industry (fishermen, net makers and fisheries representatives), scientists and managers. The objective was to take each stakeholder group’s specific competences and use these to more efficiently develop technical solutions which could alleviate some of the issues arising under the Landing Obligation.

During the project, a framework was developed to facilitate greater involvement of the industry and implemented throughout the Danish fisheries. In total, 13 vessels were involved in the project where a total of 19 gears were developed and tested. All gears developed pertained to the demersal trawl fisheries, namely the Baltic Sea cod trawl fishery, Pandalus trawl fishery, Nephrops trawl fishery, and the Brown shrimp beam trawl fishery.

The gears tested either aimed at reducing catches of unwanted species and/or sizes. Of the 19 gears developed, 4 were taken through to scientific testing, and 2 of these presented to managers for possible implementation in regulations. This report provides and overview of the work undertaken during the project and presents the results from the individual trials in the form of fact sheets.

Furthermore, the report highlights some of the challenges which arose during the project and how these can be addressed in the future.