The primary objective of this project was to estimate the survival rate of
discarded plaice caught in the NE Nephrops trawl fishery.
All tows took place in the North Sea at the southern edge of the Farne Deep
fishing grounds (ICES Division IVb, ICES rectangles 39E8 or 38E8), in depths
of 40-90m. The vessel used a 73m footrope otter trawl, with codend mesh sizes
of 80 to 85mm, on muddy sand to target mixed demersal species but the main
target catch was Nephrops, also known as prawn, scampi or langoustine
(Nephrops norvigicus). Catches from two or three tows, of three hours in
duration, were landed daily representing the normal activity of the fleet
working this area. The assessment was conducted during two fishing seasons in
March 2015 and November to January 2016.
