Using T90 netting for pelagic codends has boosted catch quality, said Arne Olesen at Danish fishing gear company Cosmos Trawl, part of the Hampiðjan Group.
He said that for Danish pelagic vessels, mackerel caught in a T90 codend fetches around €0.20 more per kilo than mackerel caught in a conventional codend, and for a 1000 tonne landing, this means a catch value of €200,000 more.
Arne Olesen said that the difference lies in the quality of fish caught in a T90 codend, and that it is possible to us produce maatjes herring from trawl-caught fish, which only a few years ago it would have been unthinkable as only purse seine-caught was believed to be good enough to produce this Dutch delicacy.
In Iceland T90 codends are in widespread use and pelagic vessel Víkingur was one of the first to use these, initially on blue whiting for the first trials.
‘We were the first to try this codend out for Hampiðjan and it worked so well that we have used only T90 codends for mackerel and herring fishing over the last few years,’ said Albert Sveinsson, skipper of HB Grandi’s pelagic vessel Víkingur.
‘We haven’t used this codend for blue whiting, as it all goes for meal production. But when the appearance and quality are the key factors, such as with herring and mackerel, the T90 codend is used. It is wider than conventional codends, allows more water to flow through the meshes and the result is that there is less pressure on the fish. It all helps to lift the quality and get better fish,’ Albert Sveinsson said, commenting that improving quality is the target that both the crew and operators aim for.
‘We are not as closely linked as our colleagues in other countries to price fluctuations fro week to week. Normally there is a contract for this or that species for some time ahead and it speaks for itself that it’s in our interest to be constantly looking to do better,’ he said.
