The Excluder, a net-based sorting device, has been introduced in the North Sea industrial trawl fishery to reduce unwanted bycatch. This study evaluated the sorting performance of the Excluder by combining traditional catch composition analysis with automated video analysis of underwater recordings. A total of 31 hauls were observed across two years (2021 and 2022), using trawls with and without the Excluder. Underwater cameras recorded fish behaviour and escapement through the Excluder's exit opening, and an object detection model was trained to estimate number of escapees across four taxonomic groups. Results showed that the Excluder allowed nearly complete escapement of demersal species such as gadoids, flatfish, and gurnards, with estimated sorting efficiencies approaching 100 %. Pelagic species (herring and mackerel) were retained to a larger extent and frequently exhibited signs of injury, raising concerns about post-release survival. Although the automated video analysis likely underestimated true escapee numbers due to visual occlusion during mass exits, the method provided valuable behavioural and ecological insights and proved effective for assessing gear performance without the need to handle live fish and bring them out of their natural habitat.

Ecological risk assessments are important as scientific support for the implementation of ecosystem-based fisheries management. Marine invertebrates are important to ecosystem structure and function and may be sensitive to fishing pressure. Some are also of increasing commercial value – but have hitherto not been paid much attention to in ecological risk assessments. Here, catches of invertebrates in Swedish west-coast fisheries with demersal trawls and creels are examined from an ecological risk assessment perspective. It is found that few non-commercial invertebrate species have been regularly recorded in onboard observer programs. Furthermore, for being a comparatively well-studied area, it is striking to find that out of the 93 species included, 56% could be classified as data deficient in terms of known attributes needed to perform basic ecological risk assessments. This implies that there is little or no available information on the basic life history traits important for estimating productivity. Additionally, onboard observer data for invertebrates are inadequate beyond targeted commercial species for robust statistical analysis on volumes generated over time and between fisheries. However, over 18% of the studied species are categorized as red-listed on the Swedish IUCN Red List. Combined with the few records available in observer data programs, the study illustrates the need to pay more attention to marine invertebrates in fisheries monitoring programs and research, especially bycaught and non-commercial invertebrate species.

Institutionen för akvatiska resurser vid Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU Aqua) presenterar årligen statusbedömningar för nationellt förvaltade fisk- och skaldjursbestånd i svenska vatten på webbportalen www.fiskbarometern.se. Fiskbarometerns statusbedömningar av fisk- och skaldjursbestånd, utgör ett viktigt underlag för hållbart nyttjande, bevarandeåtgärder och uppföljning inom fisk-, vatten- och miljöförvaltningen. I denna rapport redovisas metodiken för dessa statusbedömningar. Metodiken bidrar till en standardiserad och kvalitetssäkrad bedömningsprocess som är transparent och som vilar på vetenskaplig grund. För de flesta bestånd i Fiskbarometern baseras bedömningen på indikatorer indelade i dödlighet, biomassa/abundans och storleks-/åldersstruktur, vilka motsvarar Havsmiljödirektivets tre kriterier för bedömning av kommersiellt nyttjade bestånd (2008/56/EC). Baserat på sammanvägningen av de tre kriterierna ges respektive bestånd sedan en av fem möjliga statusbedömningar: • kan ej bedömas • mycket sannolikt inte inom biologiskt säkra gränser • sannolikt inte inom biologiskt säkra gränser • sannolikt inom biologiskt säkra gränser • mycket sannolikt inom biologiskt säkra gränser För några nationellt förvaltade bestånd finns eller pågår arbete med att utveckla analytiska beståndsmodeller. I den här rapporten presenteras riktlinjer för kvalitetssäkring och tillämpning av dem översiktligt, men den vetenskapliga granskningen av sådana modeller hanteras separat inom en process som kallas riktmärkning, vilken inte beskrivs i denna rapport. Utfall från dessa modeller översätts till samma statuskategorier som för de indikatorbaserade bedömningarna.

Stocks of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in the Baltic Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak (N. Europe) have been strongly exploited for decades bringing them into an enduringly depleted status. Scientific cod stock related advice for targeted and mixed fisheries is provided on an annual basis by the International Council for Exploration of the Sea. This advice forms a basis for ministerial decisions on, e.g., the total allowable catch and management plans. Despite measures to reduce fishing-induced mortality of cod, such as catch and effort restrictions, increased gear selectivity, closed areas and seasons, clear signs of recovery are yet to be seen. Thus, traditional advice for the management of these stocks may have to be complemented by advice on supporting measures focusing on other pressures hampering the recovery of cod. The present study elaborates on potential supportive measures for cod stock recovery in the Baltic Sea, Kattegat, and Skagerrak (including local populations where applicable), based on current knowledge. The list of measures presented here is the outcome of in-depth discussions on the state-of-the-art knowledge, among cod experts and further with stakeholders with the aim to follow principles of ecosystem-based fisheries management. Following the identification of different pressures on and prerequisites for the separate stocks, the listed measures differ between stocks and include cod bycatch mortality reduction, alterations in fisheries affecting food sources for cod, restocking, protection of juvenile habitats, and reduced predation. The literature review and the list of measures are intended to provide decision-support for managers and policymakers aiming to provide conditions for the cod stocks to recover.

Bottom trawling is associated with negative external effects such as seafloor pressure and high fuel use. Replacing bottom trawls with passive gear, such as creels, is therefore interesting for policymakers. We investigate the response of the Norway lobster fishery in Sweden to an expanded creel area. Using an economic model (FishRent), we analyse fleet structure, net present value and two environmental indicators under five management scenarios. Our results show that expanding the creel area increases the number of creel fishers, while some trawlers leave the fishery. In total, the net present value and the environmental performance of the fishery improve.

With the introduction of the landing obligation in the EU common fisheries policy, there has been several initiatives to reduce unwanted catches of quota-regulated species. In this study, we present a flexible sorting grid as a potential solution for the problem of bycatch of saithe in the pelagic herring trawl fishery in the Skagerrak. The development of the grid was initiated by the industry and finalised through an industry-science collaboration project. The selectivity of the grid was evaluated through the use of an underwater camera system during conventional trawling with an industrial pelagic herring trawler. The results showed that the grid reduced the bycatch by more than 90%, from approximately 5% to 0.5% of the total catch. Given the scale of the pelagic fishery, this reduction could decrease unwanted bycatch of saithe by up to 1000 tonnes per year in the Skagerrak alone. These results were communicated to national industry and management representatives and to responsible EU management bodies and advisory councils. The work conducted within the project also drew interest at the yearly negotiations between EU and Norway. In their agreement for 2018, the EU and Norway agreed to establish a working group on technical measures in the Skagerrak tasked with reviewing selectivity of pelagic trawls as part of the terms of reference. However, in the agreed record of the delegations, the question of pelagic gear selectivity in the Skagerrak was a non-issue, although they concluded that the demersal bycatch can be substantial, that a sorting grid can reduce this bycatch and a sorting grid remains mandatory for Norwegian vessels in the Skagerrak. We argue that this result can be seen as a missed opportunity for the EU to reduce unaccounted bycatch in the Skagerrak and ensure better implementation of the landing obligation.

Progress towards ecosystem-based fisheries management calls for useful tools to prioritize actions. To select suitable methods for local circumstances, evaluating approaches used in other jurisdictions can be a cost-effective first step. We tested Productivity Susceptibility Analysis (PSA) to assess the potential vulnerability of the marine fish community in the Skagerrak–Kattegat (Eastern North Sea) to possible interactions with all Swedish fisheries operating in the area. This analysis combines attributes for a species productivity with attributes related to the susceptibility to capture to quantify a single score for vulnerability: high, medium, or low risk. Results indicate that demersal trawl and gillnet fisheries were associated with the highest risk levels if interaction occurs, i.e. having the highest prevalence of species with potentially high vulnerability to the fisheries. Mixed results were seen when comparing the assessment results with available data. The main benefit of utilizing PSA in the area is the comprehensiveness of the assessment, including data-deficient fisheries and species. Drawbacks include potential overestimation of actual risks. Overall, together with available data, PSA in the studied area provides a comprehensive map of potential risks for further actions and may progress a science-based, precautionary management of the area.

When discarded from bottom trawl fisheries, survival of Nephrops norvegicus may be sufficiently high that this species can be exempted from the EU Landing Obligation. In three studies, Nephrops were sampled from trawlers in northern European waters, and the fate of individuals monitored for a minimum of 13 days in onshore tanks. Winter estimates of captive survival (means +/- 95% confidence intervals), including immediate mortality during catch sorting, were 62 +/- 2.8% for the West of Scotland, 57 +/- 1.8% for the Farne Deeps (North Sea), and 67 +/- 5.4% for the Skagerrak. The Farne Deeps fishery is not active in summer, but captive survival rates in summer in the other two areas were reduced to 47 +/- 3.4% for West of Scotland and 40 +/- 4.8% for the Skagerrak. Linear modelling of the West of Scotland and Skagerrak data suggested that higher survivals in winter were related to colder water or air temperatures, although temperatures during captive observation may also have had an impact. Net modifications in the Skagerrak study had an effect on survival, which was higher for Nephrops sampled from nets equipped with the more selective Swedish sorting grid compared to Seltra trawls.

Torsk (Gadus morhua) ar en viktig art for marina ekosystem i Sverige, dar den har en strukturerande och reglerande funktion i relation till andra arter. Torsken har under historiens gang aven spelat en viktig roll for samhallet i Sverige inom dess nuvarande gransers omrade (Bohuslan har t.ex. inte alltid tillhort Sverige), som en malart for fiske. Samtliga torskbestand som aterfinns i havsomradena runt Sverige har nu dalig status och det internationella havsforskningsradet ICES rekommenderar lag eller ingen fangst, beroende pa bestand. Utover riktat fiske paverkas dock torsken av en rad andra faktorer som exempelvis bifangster i annat fiske, syrebrist, klimatforandringar, predatorer, parasiter, bottenpaverkan av tralning, forlust av uppvaxtmiljoer, fodobrist, tiaminbrist och giftiga amnen. Denna rapport diskuterar mojligheter att skydda och bevara torsken pa satt som kan komplettera begransningar i det riktade torskfisket. Torskens situation ar komplex och rapporten ar darfor skriven utifran ett ekosystemperspektiv for att mojliggora en bredare ansats i forvaltningen av torskbestand i svenska vatten, dar alla relevanta paverkansfaktorer bor beaktas. Det bor poangteras att denna rapport inte har gjort nagon ny utredning av paverkansfaktorernas effekter, utan har istallet gjort en litteratursammanstallning och en kvalitativ analys. Vi har anda valt att lyfta fram vissa atgarder som sarskilt potentiellt betydelsefulla - en samlad kvalitativ expertbedomning som rangordnar olika atgarders effektivitet for ateruppbyggnad per bestand, se avsnitt 6 i rapporten.

The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) held its 65th plenary as virtual meeting from 9-13 November 2020.-- 152 pages

Commission Decision of 25 February 2016 setting up a Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, C(2016) 1084, OJ C 74, 26.2.2016, p. 4–10. The Commission may consult the group on any matter relating to marine and fisheries biology, fishing gear technology, fisheries economics, fisheries governance, ecosystem effects of fisheries, aquaculture or similar disciplines. The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries held its 64th plenary as a virtual meeting from 6 to 10 July 2020.

The cod fisheries in the Baltic Sea were among the first EU fisheries with a full implementation of the EU Landing Obligation (LO) or so-called ‘discard ban’, phased in from 2015 onwards. This chapter describes key aspects for the successful management of Baltic cod such as the long history of scientific data collection for stock assessment and cod management as well as a well-documented history of work aimed at increased selectivity in cod trawls. We then analyse how the scientific data used for stock assessment has been affected by the LO and how the knowledge of Baltic cod selectivity has been used and developed since its introduction. We conclude that in spite of many good prerequisites, the introduction of the LO in Baltic cod fisheries has been unsuccessful and has failed to deliver any of the expected benefits. Data quality for stock assessments has deteriorated, discarding of cod has not decreased despite a reduced minimum size and there are no indications of increased gear selectivity in the fishery. Finally, we propose potential explanations for this failure and recommend actions that may be needed to make the Landing Obligation more successful.

On the Swedish west coast Nephrops are fished using creels and trawls. Creel fishing exhibits lower seafloor pressure than trawl fishing, uses less fuel, and bycatch of other species per landed kilogram is lower. An expansion of the area for the creel fishery is thus interesting from an environmental perspective but the possibilities for policy change will also depend on the economic viability of the fishery, i.e. how incomes and costs of the fishery are affected. We investigate the economic effects on the Nephrops fishery of an expansion of the creel area and analyse how fleet structure and the net present value of profits is affected using a bio-economic fishery model (FishRent). In addition, we investigate how fuel use changes when the creel area is expanded. Our findings suggest that an area expansion would increase the number of creel fishers and decrease the number of trawl fishers. The net present value of the fishery would increase in total but a number of small trawlers leave the fishery and thus the net present value decrease for this fleet segment. Fuel use could increase or decrease depending on other policies in place for the fishery.

Pa uppdrag av Havs- och vattenmyndigheten (HaV), som har ansvarat for regeringsuppdraget selektivt fiske, upprattade SLU Aqua ett Sekretariat for selektivt fiske mellan 2014 och 2017. Sekretariatets huvuduppgift har varit att samla in ideer tillsammans med naringen, for att stimulera utvecklingen av selektiva fiskemetoder i syfte att minska mangden oonskad fangst. Naringens initiativ och engagemang har varit helt avgorande for en framgangsrik utveckling av nya ideer. Under projektperioden har sekretariatet tillsammans med naringen drivit 34 projekt inom selektivt fiske. Samtliga projekt ar vetenskapligt utvarderade och redovisade i arliga verksamhetsrapporter. I denna syntesrapport sammanstalls resultaten fran projekt med liknande problemstallningar, malarter och fiskemetoder, till olika fisken. De olika fiskena ar uppdelade mellan aktiva och passiva redskap. I sammanstallningen har alla projekten bedomts efter en 5-gradig skala som sammanfattar resultatet av den vetenskapliga utvarderingen, redskapets tillampbarhet i verkligt fiske samt behov av forvaltningsatgarder och/eller andra incitament for att redskapen verkligen skall komma till bred anvandning i fisket.

The northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis L.) stock in the Skagerrak is shared by Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Although the fishery is regulated by an annual agreement between the EU and Norway, there are also national regulations as well as differences in fleet composition and shrimp markets. In early 2014, the World Wildlife Fund gave all Skagerrak shrimp a red light in their seafood consumer guide, which led to an extensive debate, especially in Sweden, about the sustainability of this fishery. The aim of this study was to quantify a set of indicators that together give a broad picture of the sustainability of the three fisheries to provide an objective basis for a discussion on needed measures. The different indicators concerned environmental, economic or social aspects of sustainability and were quantified per tonne of shrimp landed by each country in 2012. The Danish fishery was most efficient in terms of environmental and economic indicators, while the Swedish fishery provided most employment per tonne of shrimp landed. Fuel use in all fisheries was high, also when compared with other shrimp fisheries. Interesting patterns emerged, with smaller vessels being more fuel efficient than larger ones in Sweden and Norway, with the opposite trend in Denmark. The study also demonstrated major data gaps and differences between the countries in how data are collected and made available. Various improvement options in the areas data collection and publication, allocation of quotas and enforcement of regulations resulted. Product-oriented studies could be useful to follow-up performance of fisheries over time and to identify how to best utilize the Skagerrak shrimp stock. This could involve evaluating novel solutions in terms of technology and management, based on current and future scenarios aiming to maximize societal benefits generated from this limited resource, at minimized environmental impacts.

Same stock, different management: Quantifying the sustainability of Skagerrak shrimp fisheries from a product perspective

The European Common Fisheries Policy has in its 2013 reform increased in complexity, such as a call for coherence with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and a landing obligation, posing new requirements and challenges to managers, scientists and the fishing industry. Therefore, re-evaluations of current practice are important as a basis for management actions. The Swedish fishery for Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in the Kattegat–Skagerrak area provides an interesting case study of relevance to emerging policies. Sprung from an unbalance in available fish- and Nephrops quotas and an ambition to protect coastal areas, the current fishery has been directed towards three separate fisheries (mixed trawling, directed trawling using a sorting grid and creeling). Studying direct and indirect effects from alternative Swedish quota allocations among gear types is therefore interesting. Accordingly, a screening study was conducted, taking into consideration area-gear interactions in catch rates, to compare the three different fisheries regarding quantified pressures on the target species, the by-catch species, and on the seafloor, as well as to qualitatively discuss social and economic dimensions. In the next step, alternative quota allocations were studied. In Swedish fisheries, we show that creeling offers a substantial reduction of fishing mortality of both undersized Nephrops and fish and a reduced seafloor pressure per landed kilo of Nephrops. Given that the fishing areas in many cases may be interchangeable between gears, allocating a larger quota share to creels in the Swedish fishery would therefore contribute to the integration of fisheries- and environmental management as called for in the new policies.