Focus species
Click on an animal below to find out which species CIBBRiNA focuses on.
Working together to minimise bycatch of Endangered, Threatened and Protected species in the North-East Atlantic, Baltic, and Mediterranean.
Mammals
Birds
Turtles
Sharks
Skates & Rays
Where we are working
Our work focuses on different fisheries through eight case studies, to ensure that we produce a suite of measures which are both feasible for fishers and effective in minimising – and where possible eliminating – bycatch.
These cover a rich variety of small-scale and large-scale fishing operations, using gear including:
- Gillnets
- Deep-water longlines
- Surface longlines
- Pelagic trawls
- Bottom trawls
Through collaborative research with these fisheries, CIBBRiNA will produce new knowledge applicable across Europe.
Find out more about each case study by clicking on the corresponding acronym on the map.
Case Study 1: Northern gillnets
Focus fisheries: Small-scale gillnet fisheries; those in the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat are often operated single-handed with under-10m vessels, targeting multiple demersal fish species such as cod, turbot, flatfish, and lumpsucker; Baltic gillnet fisheries also target perch, pike perch, and white fish.
Focus ETP species: Seals; harbour porpoise; common dolphin; eider duck; alcid seabirds.
Focus area(s): Baltic Sea; Icelandic waters; Norwegian waters.
Focus measures: Alternative gears; pingers; acrylic pearls; spatial and temporal analysis of seabird bycatch.
Key entities : Danish Fishermen’s Association; Polish Fishermen’s Organization for Small Scale Fisheries; small-scale fisheries in Sweden; Lithuanian fishermen; Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (MFRI) in Iceland; National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua); National Marine Fisheries Research Institute (NMFRI) in Poland; Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries; Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway; BirdLife; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU Aqua – case study lead).
Case Study 2: Southern gillnets
Focus fisheries: Gillnet fisheries.
Focus ETP species: Harbour porpoise; common dolphin; bottlenose dolphin; basking shark; bottom sharks; deep-water rays.
Focus area(s): Spanish waters including Galicia (Atlantic coast) and the Western Mediterranean.
Focus measures: Pingers; acrylic pearls; LED lights; other potential gear alternatives; potential spatial/temporal measures. (Note, mitigation work is also expected to address depredation of catches, particularly by bottlenose dolphin.)
Key entities: Federación Galega de Confrarías de Pesca; Federación Nacional de Cofradías; Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas (IIM-CSIC); Centro Tecnológico del Mar (CETMAR); Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC); Xunta de Galicia; Parque Nacional das Illas Atlánticas; Coordinadora para o Estudo dos Mamíferos Mariños (CEMMA); Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC – case study lead).
Case Study 3: UK static nets
Focus fisheries: Gillnet and tangle net fisheries, targeting hake, monkfish, pollack and various other mainly demersal species; with three main fleet segments by vessel size (under 12m, 12-20m, and over 20m).
Focus ETP species: Seals; harbour porpoise; common dolphin; deep-water elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays).
Focus area(s): UK waters including the Northwest European shelf edge, Celtic Sea, and inshore. (ICES areas 4c,7d,7e,7f.)
Focus measures: Pingers; electromagnetic fields; net modifications; hydrophones and 3D tracking systems to study cetacean behaviour.
Key entities: Eastern England Fish Producers’ Organisation (EEFPO); University of St Andrews (case study lead).
Case Study 4: Deepwater longlines in Portuguese waters
Focus fisheries: Deep-water longlines, comprising around 200 vessels with different gear configurations (bottom, drifting or set longlines).
Focus ETP species: Leafscale gulper shark; Portuguese dogfish; birdbeak dogfish; gulper shark; loggerhead turtle.
Focus area(s): Waters of Madeira (CECAF area 34.1.2), Azores (ICES Subarea 27.10), and mainland Portugal (ICES Division 27.9.a).
Focus measures: Magnetic hooks; pingers. (Note, mitigation work is also expected to address depredation of catches, particularly by bottlenose dolphin.)
Key entities: Madeira Regional Directorate for the Sea and Fisheries (SRMar); Secretaria Regional do Mar e das Pescas (SMRP, Azores); Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA – case study lead).
Case Study 5: Surface longlines in Madeira waters
Focus fisheries: Seasonal small-scale surface longliners targeting bluefin tuna and bigeye tuna, fishing mainly between January and March; comprises a fleet of 29 vessels (mainly under 10m in length).
Focus ETP species: Pelagic sharks including blue shark, shortfin mako and tope shark; bottlenose dolphin; common dolphin; loggerhead turtle.
Focus area(s): Waters of Madeira (Portugal). (CECAF area 34.1.2.)
Focus measures: Magnetic hooks; pingers; tags to be placed on bycaught ETP species to analyse survival rates after release.
Key entities: Cooperativa de Pesca do Arquipelago da Madeira (COOPESCA); Madeira Regional Government (SRMar – case study lead).
Case Study 6: UK longlines
Focus fisheries: Fleet of around 15 vessels (25-40m in length) targeting hake and to a lesser extent ling; vessels are based in Spain, with mainly Spanish crew.
Focus ETP species: Variety of surface and plunge-feeding seabirds, including northern fulmar, northern gannet, and shearwaters.
Focus area(s): Shelf edge to the east and west of Shetland in the UK; southwest of Ireland. (ICES areas 4a, 6a, 7bj.)
Focus measures: Industry to select from a catalogue of potential measures, with a focus on improving existing bird scaring lines.
Key entities: Aberdeen Fish Producer’s Organisation (AFPO); Hooktone Fisheries; University of St Andrews (case study lead).
Case Study 7: Pelagic trawl fisheries
Focus fisheries: Large-scale pelagic trawlers (40-140m) targeting herring, mackerel, horse mackerel, sandeel and blue whiting; the fisheries have already initiated trials of mitigation measures for ETP species.
Focus ETP species: Grey seal; harbour seal; harbour porpoise; common thresher shark; basking shark; porbeagle shark.
Focus area(s): Celtic Seas and Greater North Sea ecoregions.
Focus measures: Escape panels; excluder devices; pingers.
Key entities: Pelagic Freezer Trawler Association (PFA); Killybegs Fishermens Organisation (KFO); Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association (SPFA); Wageningen Marine Research (WMR); DTU Aqua; Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV); The North Sea Foundation (SDN); Danish Pelagic Producers Organisation (DPPO – case study lead).
Case Study 8: Demersal trawl fisheries
Focus fisheries: Demersal mixed fisheries with gear types including twin rig, beam trawl, and seine.
Focus ETP species: Starry ray; cuckoo ray; common blue skate; flapper skate; spiny dogfish; tope.
Focus area(s): Greater North Sea ecoregion.
Focus measures: Electronic Monitoring (EM); handling and release.
Key entities: Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO); Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV); The North Sea Foundation (SDN); Wageningen University & Research (WUR – case study lead).
Photographer credit: Bram Pronk
More about our work
Watch our video to find out more about the work of CIBBRiNA.