Bottom Trawl Survey (Hansard, 2 February 2004)

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what(a) standard trawl speed and (b) type of trawl gear is used by her Department's survey vessels in carrying out the International Bottom Trawl Survey in the North Sea. [149121]
621W

§ Mr. Bradshaw
The trawl used for scientific surveys of bottom living fish in the North Sea is the GOV trawl ('Grande Ouverture Verticale'). This general purpose bottom trawl has a high headline of five to six metres, and is used where the target species are a mix of commercial whitefish such as cod, haddock, whiting, pout and saithe. The net also samples shoaling or pelagic species including herring and mackerel. Design, specification and operation of the GOV trawl are all agreed internationally and co-ordinated by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. The standard towing speed is four knots over the sea bed.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the survey vessels employed in carrying out the International Bottom Trawl Survey are(a) stern trawlers and (b) side trawlers. [149122]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
They are stern trawlers.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the gear used by survey vessels carrying out the International Bottom Trawl Survey in the North Sea differs from the gear used by commercial trawlers in the same area. [149123]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
Yes. Commercial gear is rigged by individual skippers to suit local conditions and to maximise the catch of target species. It is regularly modified to follow the changes in the technical conservation legislation, and is frequently adjusted to improve catchability. Survey gear is chosen to fish both a wide range of species and a wide range of sizes including juvenile fish. It is maintained and operated to an internationally agreed specification without modification over time, so that the results of different national surveys can be combined. True comparisons can thus be made from year to year unaffected by technical changes.