Flip flap trawl

A NEW Scottish trawl design to reduce discards in the prawn fishery has been approved by the influential European scientific fisheries and technical committee.

The ‘flip flap’ trawl features a small panel inside the trawl that is able to select target species, while rejecting unwanted sizes and types of fish.

The Scottish industry hopes the new design will help convince the EC to bring an end to the continual cuts in the number of days that fishing vessels can put to sea.

Scottish fishermen’s Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong described the approval as a “vote of confidence in the innovation and determination of our fishermen to develop new types of selective fishing gear to reduce discards”.

He added: “We also hope that the EC heeds the approval of its own technical committee and recognises the effectiveness of this and other similar types of trawl that are now being used by significant sections of the Scottish fleet when formulating their fisheries management proposals for next year.”