CO-DESIGNED SEABIRD BYCATCH TRIAL IN THE NORTH SEA HITS FIRST MILESTONE

Co-designed seabird bycatch trial in the North Sea hits first milestone. Monitoring to gather vital baseline data has begun on vessels in the North Sea whitefish fishery, as part of a fully co-designed trial built on a partnership between the East of England Fish Producers Organisation and bycatch initiative Clean Catch.

When Defra-funded programme Clean Catch put out a call for a fishery to partner with for a new bycatch monitoring and mitigation trial, the timing was perfect for the East of England Fish Producers Organisation (EEFPO). Under the leadership of chief executive Dale Rodmell, the EEFPO had already bought and started testing ‘bird-scaring lines’. These are designed to prevent seabirds from striking or becoming caught in fishing gear during haul-outs.

Rodmell explained:

“We don’t have data to say that we have a lot of seabird bycatch, but we wanted to be proactive as part of our commitment to sustainability. Joining forces with Clean Catch now means we can carry out a full scientific trial.”

Collaboration has formed the core of the trial since its first day of design. Building on learning from an ongoing pinger trial with fishermen in Cornwall, the Clean Catch team has focused first on meeting with EEFPO vessel owners and pair trawl skippers in Peterhead, to carefully co-plan the trial and ensure a fuller understanding of the fishermen’s working environment. This has included employing a local Fisheries Liaison Officer to provide on-the-ground support to those involved in the trial, and speaking with skippers about their encounters with seabirds.

“The trial, for us, is a genuine example of co-design. We and our skippers have been actively involved in shaping it, and we’ve seen how our knowledge and experience is being considered alongside scientific input. The open collaboration between industry and science means that not only will the trial design be better, it’ll be built on stronger relationships,” said vessel owner Mark Dougal of Peter & J Johnstone, a comment echoed by Rebecca Bennett of Lockers Trawlers.

The trial has just hit its first milestone: the launch of a monitoring phase, with Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) cameras now operational on seven vessels – with the final vessel due for installation – and an additional skipper providing self-reported data. Sensors have also been added to onboard conveyor belts to provide timestamps for when offal discharge takes place. Data gathered during the monitoring phase will be essential to establish a baseline for the frequency of interactions with seabirds. This will allow the Clean Catch team to see whether the use later in the trial of bird-scaring lines, potentially in combination with other mitigation measures, has an impact.

One skipper involved in the trial said:

“Clean Catch asks for, and listens, to what I know about seabird interactions, so our day-to-day experience at sea is always feeding into the trial’; while another noted that their ‘suggestions on ways to simplify self-reporting have been taken on board, making reporting easier without sacrificing important details.”

In designing the trial Clean Catch has been able to tap into the experiences and expertise not only of the EEFPO fishermen, but also a wider network including Hooktone, the Aberdeen Fish Producers Organisation, the University of St Andrews, and members of Clean Catch’s National Advisory Board which includes fishermen, eNGOs, scientists, policymakers, and others. The Scottish Government has also pitched in with funding for the trial’s eighth pair trawl – involving two Scottish vessels – to take part.

Mike Dowell, Deputy Director in Marine and Fisheries at Defra, commented:

“We are delighted to see the progress of the trial, which marks a cross-border, cross-sector effort to improve our ability to address seabird bycatch.”

The mitigation phase of the trial is expected to commence in early spring 2026, with results by autumn of the same year. As well as adding to knowledge of seabird bycatch mitigation, Clean Catch and the EEFPO hope that the process of designing the trial will serve as an example of collaboration with can be drawn on by sustainability and co-management initiatives across the UK.

Image: Clean Catch