FISHING is becoming a high -tech industry with satellite-guided trawlers deploying
increasingly sophisticated equipment to improve their catches.
One of the most spectacular developments is the Icelandic fishermen's massive Gloria
trawler designed to catch Iceland redfish. It could fit 12 Boeing 747s into its "mouth".
In British waters, most trawlers now have latest satellite navigation technology on the bridge
able to pinpoint exactly where they are in relation to the seabed, plus sonar and echo-sounding equipment which lets them identify fish in mid-water or on the bottom. "They can now return to within half a metre of where they were yesterday and see exactly what sort of fish are on the bottom," said Mr David Jolley, manager of London's Billingsgate fish market."And that doesn't give the fish much of a chance."
Technology is so accurate that even wrecks, which fishermen used to give a half-mile berth,
are now regularly fished.
"Fishermen have these fantastic modern systems which enable them to see where they are,"
said Dr Han Lindeboom, head of research at the Netherlands Institute of Sea Research. "They
used to stay a kilometre away from wrecks but now we have found trawl tracks 10 metres
away from a wreck."
Methods available to the modern fishermen include conventional pelagic and bottom trawls
(either otter trawls or beam trawls which cut into the seabed), purse seines which enable
trawlers to encircle a whole shoal of mackerel, and long lines for hake and tuna which are
favoured by the Spanish fishermen because they deliver an unmarked product.
Technological developments can be also good for conservation: making nets less damaging,
both to small fish, to non-target species and to the seabed.
A net for Dublin Bay prawns has just been introduced which allows undersized whiting,
regularly taken as a "by-catch ", to escape.
Mr John Tomilty, technical director of the statutory Sea Fish Industry Authority, said: "Norway has a good record of taking technical conservation methods. There is a lot of support for them among British fishermen but not much has happened.
"One of the problems these days is that you don't just have to convince one government, you
