New NZ fishing tech shows snapper bycatch reduction promise

A New Zealand commercial fishing research project is only halfway through its testing stages, but advocates are already claiming to have produced a new form of fishing technology that helps prevent bycatch of undersized fish.

The project, Precision Seafood Harvesting, is funded partly by three companies – Aotearoa Fisheries, Sanford and Sealord – with the rest coming from the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, which is matching the industry investment under a Primary Growth Partnership.

The technology uses a large, flexible PVC liner with holes designed to allow undersized fish to escape. Even the fish brought aboard the vessel are still swimming in the liner. The project’s developers said the technology allows fishermen to reduce bycatch and reduce stress and injury to the fish being caught, with high survival rates.

“The objective is to massively increase the proportion of small fish or unwanted by-catch that can be returned to the sea completely unharmed by our fishing,” said Dave Woods, program manager with the project. “It’s about the future of our fisheries and about the future of our seas – helping to ensure our oceans are full of life.”

According to Suzy Black, a senior scientist on the project, commercial fishermen have already expressed an interest in the technology.

“We’re getting huge support from our industry which we might not have expected 10 years ago, but they are fantastic to work with and ultimately we are making fishing better and potentially turning it on its head,” she said.

Much of the testing has been with snapper fishing, but the six-year project still has three years to go. Now scientists are looking to test it with other species in other fishing conditions.

“We want to look at how the system operates in the deep waters off the South Island and particularly on vessels that are fishing for hoki,” said Dorje Strang at Sealord Group. “Continuing to test for different species and at different depths is crucial to developing the most robust technology possible that can potentially work across the entire fishing fleet.”

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