GB-Lowestoft: Cefas FSP57 Selectivity differences between older and newer trawl designs in The Wash brown shrimp fishery

A Fishery Science Partnership (FSP) involving the fishing industry, Defra and Cefas scientists was established in 2003. Defra has confirmed the continued funding of the Fisheries Science Partnership programme for a further year in 2017/18.

The objectives of the programme are:

To build relationships between UK fishermen and scientists and to involve fishermen in the co-commissioning of science.

Crangon crangon (brown shrimp) are caught primarily in estuaries and inshore areas countries bordering the North Sea using light weight beam trawls. Total annual landings of North Sea Shrimp in 2015 was 31 375 t, of this the UK vessels land around 316 t of the total European catch. The Wash Brown Shrimp fishery is a major fishery for vessels working from The Wash ports (mostly Boston and King's Lynn), accounting for a large proportion of the gross earnings of vessels from these ports.

The objectives of this project will be;

1)To assess the selectivity differences between older and newer Shrimp Beam trawl designs

2)Assess the survival of discarded brown shrimp and fish species in The Wash Brown Shrimp Fishery across a range of vessel configurations (rotary riddle and flat screen riddle)

3)Identify best practice to minimise mortality in non-retained catch

FULL DETAILS REGARDING THE REQUIREMENT CAN BE FOUND BY REGISTERING AS A SUPPLIER AND DOWNLOADING THE TENDER PACKAGE AT https://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/NH9R3M7A43

Additional information: The contracting authority considers that this contract may be suitable for economic operators that are small or medium enterprises (SMEs). However, any selection of tenderers will be based solely on the criteria set out for the procurement.