Now the fishermen will fish smarter with new fishing net approved by the regulators. The new net would allow them to catch healthy stocks of haddock and avoid depleted stocks of cod, yellowtail flounder and other groundfish that regulators are trying to rebuild to sustainable levels. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service, It is said that the new fishing net is expected to reduce the catch of non-target species, known as bycatch, by more than 50 percent.
NOAA also said that groundfishermen who are struggling to make a living due to limited fishing days can use the net to access additional fishing days. It added that with the haddock rope trawl net, fishermen may be able to land more haddock, which on Tuesday sold for just under $2 per pound at the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction. Dave Beutel, a fisheries extension specialist with the Rhode Island Sea Grant at the University of Rhode Island, told that the net works by exploiting the “difference in behavior between haddock and all of the other groundfish.”
Beutel also added that once haddock caught in fishing net it tend to swim up while other fish swim down. The new designed fishing net with 8-inches holes in the bottom and 6-inches holes up would hold haddock from escaping. It is said that the cost of this net ranges from $15,000 to $18,000 for large commercial fishing vessels.
