Tweak to scallop fishing gear reduces damage to the seabed

A SLIGHT change to kit used for scallop dredging has shown potential to reduce the damage caused to the seabed during commercial fishing expeditions.

Scallop dredges are heavy-duty metal-framed nets which are pulled over the seabed.

They can damage ecosystems in the sea, with organisms on the sea floor being routinely disrupted.

Because of this, scallop dredging is banned in Scotland’s marine protected areas. However, a modification to a gear that lifts the steel bags used for catching scallops looks like it may help limit damage caused during dredging.

Scientists from the Low Impact Scallop Innovation Gear project, led by Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University, fitted “skids” to the bottom of standard spring-toothed scallop dredges and monitored them during trials with commercial scallop fisheries in Scotland and Wales. They found the skid, which lifts the metal bags a mere 10cm off the seabed, helped to reduce damage to bottom-dwelling species and fauna.

The research also discovered this slight alteration to the gear increased the catch of king scallops by an average of 15%.

Bycatch – fish or other animals that fishermen do not want such as undersized scallops, crabs and starfish – which is often repeatedly caught and returned to the sea in commercial expeditions, was more variable, scientists found.

They said further modifications to the kit, such as increasing the size of the metal rings, along with implementation of skids could reduce this bycatch further.

No extra fuel was burned by adding the skids to the dredge.