TENDERS - DISCATCH project
Programme: DG MARE/2012/24-Lot 2 SI2.672370
Title of the project:
Pilot project on catch and discard composition including solutions for limitation and possible elimination of unwanted by-catches in trawl net fisheries in the Mediterranean
Acronym: DISCATCH
Duration: January 2014 – Juin 2015
Total Budget: 624 843.22 Euro
Web site: not available
Summary:
Conservation standards for sustainable exploitation, within an ecosystem approach to fisheries management, increasingly urge the elimination of the wasteful practice of biomass discarding at sea. Understanding the reasons for discarding and identification of solutions to tackle the bycatches of unwanted species and specimens is essential if discards are to be eliminated without affecting the minimum requirements of conservation standards. To strengthen the scientific basis for the ecosystem approach to fisheries management the EU requires knowledge on the impact of fishing on the structure, functioning and services of the ecosystem as well as on the socio-economic aspect of innovations in fisheries technology and management. The current project will provide this basis. The success of this multi-disciplinary project, however, will critically depend on a clear a priori understanding of how these different topics are inter-linked and fit into the overall framework of the project.
The aim of DISCATCH will be to support the identification of viable solutions to address factors determining the catches of unwanted species and specimens in trawl fisheries with a view to reducing unwanted catches and eliminating discards. The main objectives of DISCATCH are:
- to provide an overall assessment of the fishing fleet discarding behaviour and to identify the main reasons for discarding in Mediterranean continental shelf demersal and small pelagic trawl fisheries.
- to identify measures, including technical ones related to fishing gear characteristics, to mitigate or eliminate by catches of unwanted species and measures to eliminate discarding based on existing or new measures.
Contact in ISMAR: Dr. Antonello Sala; a.sala@ismar.cnr.it
Partnership:
- CNR-ISMAR, Italy
- Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Greece
- Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia (IEO), Spain
- University of Split, University Department of Marine Studies (UNIST), Croatia
- COISPA Tecnologia & Ricerca, Italy
- Associazione Consiglio Consultivo Regionale del Mediterraneo (RAC MED), Italy
