North Sea pout bycatch mitigation 2003/04 - Fisheries Science Partnership

Fisheries Science Partnership Programme 9, carried out in December 2003. The Programme was set up to investigate the extent to which a sieve net, incorporated into an industrial fishing trawl, could reduce the by-catch of whitefish whilst retaining sufficient catches of the target species Norway pout (*Trisopterus esmarkii*) in the northern North Sea. Sieve nets (also known as veil nets) are curved cone-shaped funnels of netting traditionally fitted to the inside of beam trawls used for brown shrimps, to reduce the by-catch of unwanted fish.