The annual ICES-FAO working group meeting of "Fisheries Technology and Fish Behaviour" (WG FTFB) was arranged in St. John's, Newfoundland during 3-7 June (see link). WG FTFB is the largest working group in ICES (the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) and connected to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and a global network of delegates.
Fisheries and Marine Institute (MI) of Memorial University of Newfoundland hosted the meeting. Dr. Paul Winger (member of the international advisory board of Dsolve) is director for MI.
Plenary sessions: From the Norwegian delegation, two presentations from UiT the Arctic University of Norway were held during the plenary session. MSc Ilmar Brinkhof presented a study entitled "Make fisheries better by reducing size selectivity" where he presented results from experiments with sorting grids in a bottom trawl fishery. The results showed that a reduction from 55 to 45 mm bar distance in such grids will result in significant additional catches of legal size cod, haddock and pollock (saithe). Dr. Kristine Cerbule gave a presentation entitled "Selectivity in snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) pot fishery: effect of escape gap shape and size for conservation of fishery resources" on a study about the Norwegian snow crab fishery and potential use of escape openings to improve selective capture of legal size snow crab (≥95 mm carapace width). Results from simulations showed that fixed escape gaps provided sharper size selection than net meshes (140 mm), and circular openings were rated as the best.
Topic group ALDFG: The WG FTFB meeting included sessions on topic groups, whereof ALDFG attracted many delegates. Dr. Kristine Cerbule, PhD student Anja Alvestad, center director Roger B. Larsen, Dr. Paul Winger, Dr. Aida Campos, senior scientist Haraldur Einarsson, Rikke Frantzen and Dr. Daniel Stepputtis represented Dsolve in the topic group dealing with ALDFG (Abandoned, Lost or otherwise Discarded Fishing Gears). Roger B. Larsen participates as convener together with FAO's Haraldur Einarsson (member of the international advisory board of Dsolve), Kelsey Richardson, FAO (and Ampora Perez Roda, FAO). Topic group ALFDG attracted many delegates and the group will continue collecting knowledge until 2026.
