The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM) closed off an area in the Skagerrak from fishing. A large proportion of juveniles were caught by a demersal trawler. This is the first time that Sweden has implemented a real-time closure in its waters.
On Friday, the closure was put in place for twenty-one days. Such measures have been available since 2009, when the EU and Norway agreed to a revised control regulation. In this case, over 10% of the catch was estimated to be of undersized fish, leading to the area being cut off from fishing activities.
A similar system has been in place in Norway for some time, where if a vessel catches a significant quantity of juveniles, alternative fishing grounds must be sought.
Such measures are aimed to improve the selectivity of vessels by helping them to avoid juveniles. This will help to allow all fish to have spawned at least once before they are caught.
With a discard ban due to come into force in the Skagerrak at the beginning of 2014, real-time closures and more selective gears should ensure that less juveniles are caught, thus aiding stock recruitment and the value of the fisherman’s haul.