This work was carried out as part of the Fisheries Science Partnership (FSP)
programme. The twin rig trawler *Nimrod *was chartered to undertake trials
in a *Nephrops *(Nephrops norvegicus) fishery. Eleven days of fishing
trials were conducted in the Farne Deeps (FU6: IVb; 38E8,38E9,39E9,40E8 and
40E9) fishing grounds off the North‐East coast of England in November and
December 2017. This enabled catch comparisons of five cod ends of varying mesh
size, twine thickness and ircumference to be examined. The primary objective
of this work was to compare the catch rates of these cod ends as those
conforming to the latest licence conditions were suggested to be
counterproductive by the industry. These measures were introduced in April
2016 following concerns of historical overexploitation of *Nephrops *in the
Farne Deeps. The specific object of the project was to develop an optimum cod
end construction to reduce catches of small Nephrops. A total of 27 hauls
were completed for eleven days fishing, with 26 of these considered valid for
examination.
