Discards Management: reducing plaice discards via beam-trawl effort reallocations

Ways to improve the well-being and likewise to reduce the number of fish returned to sea as unwanted waste (‘discards’) have received major attention by the Dutch commercial beam-trawl fishing sector, and responsible ministries. There are various options to achieve this: make the gear more selective for the right sizes and species; allow more and smaller species to be landed; and protect spawning and nursery areas. While other research is focussed on improving gear selectivity, this report sheds light on the effect of area closures (i.e. reallocating fishing effort to adjacent areas) on the predicted total number of plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) discarded from the beam-trawl fishery (80 mm. mesh size, >300 horse power/hp. in engine size).