New floating platform for seal-safe coastal fishing in southern Sweden

The push-up trap was first developed in the early 2000s and has long been successfully used in small-scale coastal fisheries along the northern Swedish coast. But despite more than a decade of trials in Blekinge, it has been difficult to establish this fishing method – which relies on large, fixed, seal-safe gear – in the southern Baltic Sea.

One of the main problems faced by fishers in Blekinge is heavy algal fouling on the gear. This fouling reduces the traps’ efficiency and results in lower catches.

"To function effectively, the gear needs to be cleaned several times each season. In practice, however, it is usually only cleaned once because the work is heavy, time-consuming and cumbersome," explains Mariela Johansson Vingård, environmental analyst at SLU’s Department of Aquatic Resources.

Together with commercial fishers, gear manufacturers and SLU colleagues from Program Sälar och fiske, has now developed a high-tech raft to be used as a floating work platform by fishers in the Baltic Sea.

The raft, built by Westers Mekaniska AB, is six metres wide and almost twelve metres long. It is large enough to clean fishing gear onboard and is equipped with a robust net hauler, a lifting crane, and a powerful wash pump and pressure washer. In addition, the raft is designed to be easily disassembled so it can be transported by lorry between different areas.

"The aim is to make the retrieval and cleaning of the traps easier, improve fishers’ working conditions and increase catches. The raft will be an essential step towards expanding the use of seal-safe fixed gear in the Baltic Sea – something that is crucial for maintaining coastal fisheries as traditional gillnet fishing becomes impossible with the growing seal population," says Sven-Gunnar Lunneryd, senior researcher at SLU.

The project is funded by the Swedish Board of Agriculture through the Marine, Fisheries and Aquaculture Programme.