The implications of a transition from tickler chain beam trawl to electric pulse trawl on the sustainability and ecosystem effects of the fishery for North Sea sole: an impact assessment

Rijnsdorp, A.D.; Boute, P.G.; Tiano, Justin; Lankheet, M.J.M.; Soetaert, Karline; Beier, Ulrika; Borger, Emil De; Hintzen, N.T.; Molenaar, Pieke; Polet, Hans; Poos, Jan Jaap; Schram, E.; Soetaert, Maarten; Overzee, Harriet van; Wolfshaar, K. van de; Kooten, Tobias van

doi:10.18174/519729

Cited by 11 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 112 publications

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“…However, these measures can result in the reduction of fish yields, displacement of effort to other locations, or concentration of effort inside a smaller area, with potentially more damaging impacts on biota. Such approaches may be less favorable than attempting to reduce gear impacts while maintaining current levels of fishing (Rijnsdoorp et al., 2020b), which offers the potential for broad‐scale impact reduction across entire fisheries while avoiding effort displacement or socioeconomic impacts associated with restricting fishing effort. Here we describe the analyses that underpin a quantitative fisheries management tool for estimating seabed penetration and resulting benthic community depletion rates, for common seabed‐penetrating fishing gears, in different seabed sediments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tool to estimate the contribution of fishing gear modifications to reduce benthic impact

Szostek

Hiddink

Sciberras

et al. 2022

J of Industrial Ecology

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The ecological effects of seabed-penetrating fishing gears depend, in part, on the seabed penetration (P) of the gear. We present a gear impact tool that utilizes published data to provide estimated P of globally utilized seabed-penetrating fishing gears in different sediments and their resulting impact on biological communities. As P correlates with the depletion (d) of benthic fauna caused by fishing gears, we use P to calculate d, which can be used to estimate the relative benthic status (RBS; the community biomass of benthic fauna relative to carrying capacity) of the seabed. The tool can provide an objective appraisal of different fisheries management scenarios or interventions (e.g., gear modification, gear substitution, or fishing effort limits) on seabed status, particularly in situations of limited data or resources. For otter trawling in mud, gear modification may provide greater ecological benefits than reducing fishing effort; mean RBS increased by 29% in fished areas by removing the impact from the otter trawl sweeps; this is comparable to reducing fishing effort by approximately 70%. In contrast, modification of beam trawl gear in sand resulted in marginal improvements (6%) in RBS. Modification or removal of gear components with high seabed penetration could result in greater improvements in RBS than spatial management, dependent on gear type and sediment. We provide a quantitative method for estimating the effectiveness of different management scenarios in reducing the benthic impact of seabed-penetrating fishing gears, enabling an objective evaluation of the trade-off between spatial management measures (closures or effort reductions) versus technical modifications. This article met the requirements for a Gold-Gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tool to estimate the contribution of fishing gear modifications to reduce benthic impact

Szostek

Hiddink

Sciberras

et al. 2022

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…Laboratory studies where benthos was exposed to electrical pulses used in the sole fishery did not find evidence for pulse–induced mortality for a variety of benthic invertebrates [ 54 , 68 , 71 , 72 ]. Field and laboratory studies on the effect of pulse trawling and tickler chain trawling on biogeochemical processes only showed biochemical impacts coming from mechanical disturbance but did not find evidence that electrical pulses led to a detectable impact on biogeochemistry [ 54 , 73 ]. Although studies on the effect of pulse stimuli on marine biota and geochemical processes are still ongoing, the available evidence suggests that the impact of pulse trawls on the benthic ecosystem is due mainly to mechanical disturbance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating seafloor disturbance of bottom trawl fisheries for North Sea sole Solea solea by replacing mechanical with electrical stimulation

Rijnsdorp

Depestele²,

Eigaard

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

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Ecosystem effects of bottom trawl fisheries are of major concern. Although it is prohibited to catch fish using electricity in European Union waters, a number of beam trawlers obtained a derogation and switched to pulse trawling to explore the potential to reduce impacts. Here we analyse whether using electrical rather than mechanical stimulation results in an overall reduction in physical disturbance of the seafloor in the beam-trawl fishery for sole Solea solea. We extend and apply a recently developed assessment framework to the Dutch beam-trawl fleet and show that the switch to pulse trawling substantially reduced benthic impacts when exploiting the total allowable catch of sole in the North Sea. Using Vessel Monitoring by Satellite and logbook data from 2009 to 2017, we estimate that the trawling footprint decreased by 23%, the precautionary impact indicator of the benthic community decreased by 39%, the impact on median longevity of the benthic community decreased by 20%, the impact on benthic biomass decreased by 61%, and the amount of sediment mobilised decreased by 39%. The decrease in impact is due to the replacement of tickler chains by electrode arrays, a lower towing speed and higher catch efficiency for sole. The effort and benthic physical disturbance of the beam-trawl fishery targeting plaice Pleuronectes platessa in the central North Sea increased with the recovery of the plaice stock. Our study illustrates the utility of a standardized methodological framework to assess the differences in time trends and physical disturbance between gears.

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“…year, given the absence of a clear seasonal pattern in trawling intensities (Rijnsdorp et al, 2020a). For each trawling frequency and site, 30 model simulations were performed, each with a different pair of penetration and erosion depths, generated from a log-normal distribution of penetration depths.…”

Section: Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…hydrodynamic drag due to a reduced towing speed (Rijnsdorp et al, 2020a). The lower penetration depth of the pulse gear compared to standard tickler chain methods, has been shown to decrease the effects of bottom trawling on the sediment redox layer (Depestele et al, 2019) and on chlorophyll a reduction but it is yet unclear how specific mineralization processes might be affected on longer temporal scales.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of bottom trawling on sediment biogeochemistry: a modelling approach

Borger¹,

Tiano²,

Braeckman³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Bottom trawling in shelf seas can occur more than 10 times per year for a given location. This affects the benthic metabolism, through a mortality of the macrofauna, resuspension of organic matter from the sediment, and alterations of the physical sediment structure. However, the trawling impacts on organic carbon mineralization and associated processes are not well known. Using a modelling approach, the effects of increasing trawling frequencies on early diagenesis were studied in five different sedimentary environments, simulating the effects of a deep penetrating gear (e.g. a tickler chain beam trawl) and a shallower, more variable penetrating gear (e.g. an electric pulse trawl). Trawling events strongly increased oxygen and nitrate concentrations in surface sediment layers, and led to significantly lower amounts of ammonium (43–99 % reduction) and organic carbon in the top 10 cm of the sediment (62–96 % reduction). As a result, total mineralization rates in the sediment were decreased by up to 28 %. The effect on different mineralization processes differed both between sediment types, and between trawling frequencies. The shallow penetrating gear had a slightly smaller effect on benthic denitrification than the deep penetrating gear, but there were no statistically different results between gear types for all other parameters. Denitrification was reduced by 69 % in a fine sandy sediment, whereas nitrogen removal nearly doubled in a highly eutrophic mud. This suggests that even relatively low penetration depths from bottom fishing gears generates significant biogeochemical alterations. Physical organic carbon removal through trawl-induced resuspension of sediments, exacerbated by a removal of bioturbating macrofauna, was identified as the main cause of the changes in the mineralization process.

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The implications of a transition from tickler chain beam trawl to electric pulse trawl on the sustainability and ecosystem effects of the fishery for North Sea sole: an impact assessment

Abstract: Wageningen Marine Research provides no printed copies of reports.Wageningen Marine Research is ISO 9001:2015 certified.

Cited by 11 publications

References 112 publications

A tool to estimate the contribution of fishing gear modifications to reduce benthic impact

A tool to estimate the contribution of fishing gear modifications to reduce benthic impact

Mitigating seafloor disturbance of bottom trawl fisheries for North Sea sole Solea solea by replacing mechanical with electrical stimulation

Impact of bottom trawling on sediment biogeochemistry: a modelling approach

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