Regional Stakeholder meetings: what do they think of innovative fishing technologies?
In spring 2013, BENTHIS organised stakeholder workshops in each of our five case studies. The central question was which attitude stakeholders had towards innovative technologies in sustainable managed demersal fisheries.
The stakeholders consisted of representatives of the fishing industry, NGO’s, policy and research. Our aim was to explore their views on technological innovations and management measures to reduce the benthic impact of fisheries. Stakeholders were asked to fill in a questionnaire with questions addressing governance, ecology, management, socio-economics and technology issues.
All groups agreed about the need to minimise the unintended mortality caused by fishing on benthic organisms to improve the seabed fauna. Interestingly, the scientific data demonstrating negative impacts of trawling were not trusted by all groups. Hence, not everyone was convinced of the need to reduce trawling disturbance, whether discards are an ecological concern and whether trawling may increase the food for flatfish.
With regard to the technological innovations, the stakeholder groups had different views on whether bottom trawls should be replaced with passive gears. They weren’t convinced either whether pelagic otter boards or electrical stimulation would reduce the impact. They all agreed on the importance to improve compliance, moving towards decentralised fishery management and co-management, and the lack of transparency in fisheries management.