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To study and improve the selectivity of trawls in the Cantabrian Sea and the Iberian Northwest in order to facilitate the adaptation of the activity of the commercial fishing fleet to the regulation on Landing Obligation (OD).

The beneficiary entity AZTI has achieved the general and specific objectives of the project, together with the Organization of Deep-Sea Fishing Producers of Ondárroa (OPPAO) and the Organization of Fresh Fish Producers of the Port and Rica of Marín (OPROMAR) as partners. This has made it possible to generate the necessary meeting and debate for the exchange of knowledge and collaboration between scientists and agents in the sector.

The project has been based on a previous diagnosis of the casuistry of the discard for the species with Total Allowable Catches (TAC) concerned by the OD. As a result, scientific-technical information was obtained that favors the adaptation of the activity of trawl fleets operating in ICES 8c and 9a to the European regulations on Landing Obligation.

Work has been done on the modalities of trawling the pair and bottom trawling to the bottom rack, the main trawling modalities in waters of the Cantabrian Sea and Northwest Iberia, and on five species that have a high rate of unwanted catch: blue whiting, horse mackerel, hake, rooster and mackerel. Based on the reports on the execution of actions, the main conclusions have been:

• Pair trawl selectivity tests in ICES 8c have demonstrated the effectiveness of an 80 mm mesh square mesh panel (SMP) in the low codend plan, to reduce a fraction (16 % by weight) of hake below the minimum conservation reference size (TMRC) – the unwanted catch of this species – that enters the net. In addition, it is possible to improve the selectivity by hake size of the net’s codend, equipped with the SMP panel. In the case of blue whiting, the SMP panel is not effective for escaping unwanted capture of this species (below the minimum market size).

• Bottom tank trawl selectivity tests at ICES 9ª have demonstrated the limited effectiveness of an SMP panel located on the high codend plan, to reduce the unwanted catch of main target species such as hake (-4 %) and megrim (-0.4 %). However, it contributes to substantially reducing the unwanted catch of horse mackerel. A 60 mm mesh mesh codend substantially reduces the level of unwanted catches of hake and horse mackerel (35% additional over the 70mm commercial rhomboidal mesh codend). However, in the rooster the opposite effect occurs, with a relative <increase of 11% in the CMC codend retained TMRC fish.

• Economic assessments of the effect on shipowners of the introduction of these selective devices indicate that, in the case of drag pairs, the introduction of the SMP panel would be economically viable, while in the case of bottom roof racks, neither the SMP panel nor the CMC codend manage to counteract the negative cash of the OD, since the reduction of the unwanted catch achieved for the species subject to TACs would not be sufficient. The study concludes by pointing to the need to carry out a greater number of experimental tests at different times of the year, in order to implement improved technical measures that increase the effectiveness of selective devices, reducing the levels of unwanted capture as much as possible.

In relation to the dissemination of the project, we highlight the publication of the technical article Selectivity of the trawl fleets of the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Northwest for the adaptation to the Landing Obligation, in the journal Industrias Pesqueras in March 2020.

Finally, we highlight the following reports:

• Case Study Report on Unwanted Catches Linked to the Landing Obligation in Coastal Trawl Fleets of Ondárroa and Marín (Prioritization of Case Studies)
• Report Meetings with patones (including plans and images of the device and annexed elements) – Ondárroa Fleet
• Report Meetings with patones (including plans and images of the device and annexed elements) – Fleet of Marín”.
• Report Experimental fishing tests to evaluate the effect of selective devices on coastal trawling of Ondárroa and Marín
• Report Economic and financial assessment of the results obtained with the different selective devices studied
• Report of the Technological Committee for project coordination and discussion of relevant technical aspects”, OPPAO (Ondárroa, April 4, 2019)
• Report of the Technological Committee for project coordination and discussion of relevant technical aspects, OPROMAR, (Marín, March 29, 2019)
• Final project synthesis report: Study and optimisation of the selectivity of the trawl in the Cantabrian and Northwest fishing grounds with a view to its optimisation within the framework of adaptation to the regulation on the Landing Obligation.