Electric pulse fishing is a

fishing technique Fishing techniques are methods for catching fish. The term may also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs (shellfish, squid, octopus) and edible marine invertebrates. Fishing techniques include hand-gatherin ...

sometimes used in trawl fisheries which produces a limited electric field above the seabed to catch fish. The pulse trawl gear consists of a number of electrodes, attached to the gear in the tow direction, that emit short electric pulses. The electrodes replace the tickler chains that are used in traditional beam trawl fishery. The pulse trawl fishery is mainly aimed at flatfish like sole, with by-catch

plaice Plaice is a common name for a group of flatfish that comprises four species: the European, American, Alaskan and scale-eye plaice. Commercially, the most important plaice is the European. The principal commercial flatfish in Europe, it is also ...

. In addition, the pulse trawl gear is applied in shrimp fisheries on a limited scale. Technically, the use of electricity to catch fish is prohibited in European waters. However, the European Union is able to provide exemptions to this rule since 2007. These exemptions are now mainly used by Dutch and British trawlers in the North Sea. Electric pulse fishing should not be confused with pulse fishing, which is a

fisheries management The goal of fisheries management is to produce sustainable biological, environmental and socioeconomic benefits from renewable aquatic resources. Wild fisheries are classified as renewable when the organisms of interest (e.g., fish, shellfish, am ...

technique for preventing

fish stock Fish stock or stock fish may also refer to: *Fish stocks are subpopulations of a particular species of fish. * Fish stock (food), liquid made by boiling fish bones with vegetables, used as a base for fish soups and sauces * Fish stocking, the practi ...

s from being

overfished Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in the ...

by periodically permitting a cycle of fishing followed by a fallow period which allows stocks to reconstitute.

Background

Electric pulse fishing is applied on a limited scale for catching

flatfish A flatfish is a member of the Ray-finned fish, ray-finned demersal fish order (biology), order Pleuronectiformes, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the ...

. In this branch of demersal fishery different techniques can be used for disturbing fish on the seabed and sending them up into the belly of the net. In conventional

bottom trawling Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towin ...

the trawl doors and foot rope, which consists of steel chains mounted to the bottom of the net opening, disturb the seabed, causing the demersal fish to swim along in the mouth of the net until they succumb and fall into cod end. Electric pulse fishing gear does not involve these chains, but features cables with

electrodes An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or air). Electrodes are essential parts of batteries that can consist of a variety of materials de ...

consisting of isolated and conductive elements mounted in the dragging direction. A short-lasting

electric field An electric field (sometimes E-field) is the physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles and exerts force on all other charged particles in the field, either attracting or repelling them. It also refers to the physical field fo ...

is generated to disturb demersal fish without killing or paralysing them, but rather by causing an involuntary muscular contraction. Electric pulse fishing consumes less energy compared to conventional trawling, due to the lighter trawl, lower fishing speed and lower frictive resistance from the seabed.Quirijns, F.J., Strietman, W.J., Marlen, B. van, Rasenberg, M., 2013. Platvis pulsvisserij, Resultaten onderzoek en kennisleemtes. IMARES rapport C193/13. It therefore requires significantly less fuel, which reduces

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

emissions and makes it an economically interesting alternative. As there is no "ploughing effect", this method of fishing has a less disastrous impact on the seabed

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

. It also involves fewer

discards Discards are the portion of a catch of fish which is not retained on board during commercial fishing operations and is returned, often dead or dying, to the sea. The practice of discarding is driven by economic and political factors; fish which are ...

for all species categories that are discarded.

Animal rights

In January 2018, the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

approved a call to ban electric pulse fishing, seen by some as cruel. The UK banned the practice of Electric Pulse fishing on 1st January 2021 as one of the first actions after Brexit, where independence from the EU was required to ban it in the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone, though not its Territorial Waters.

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

banned electric pulse fishing on 14 August 2019.

References

External links

Pulse trawling
''British Sea Fishing''. Retrieved 24 September 2014.

''Wageningen University and Research''. Retrieved 15 January 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fishing Techniques

Background

Animal rights

See also

References

External links