Publication Abstract

One hundred and twenty years of change in fishing power of English North Sea trawlers

One hundred and twenty years of change in fishing power of British North Sea trawlers

G.H. Engelhard

It is well known that fishing vessels differ in fishing power—that is, in the quantity of fish they would catch if they were fishing at the same time and space—and that there is a general tendency of improvement in fishing power over time. Typically, fishing power studies are limited to 1–2 decades, but here I attempt to quantify this ‘creep’ for British North Sea trawlers over the past 120 years. A review shows how sailing trawlers, steam trawlers, and currently both motor otter trawlers and twin beam trawlers have in turn dominated the trawl fisheries. A huge, overall increase in fishing power has occurred but the trend has been all but linear: fishing power sometimes “leaped” forward within few years, but at times has also stagnated for decades. Compared to historical sailing trawlers, motor otter trawlers around the millennium are estimated to have 50 times higher cod fishing power, and twin beam trawlers to have 100 times higher plaice fishing power. But all is not what it seems; increases in catch rates have lagged far behind those in fishing power, and all points in the direction of heavy overcapacity of the current international North Sea trawling fleet.

Reference

Engelhard GH (2008) One hundred and twenty years of change in fishing power of English North Sea trawlers. In: Payne A, Cotter J, Potter T (eds) Advances in Fisheries Science 50 years on from Beverton and Holt. Blackwell Publishing, pp 1-25.

G.H. Engelhard*

Engelhard GH (2008) One hundred and twenty years of change in fishing power of English North Sea trawlers. In: Payne A, Cotter J, Potter T (eds) Advances in Fisheries Science 50 years on from Beverton and Holt. Blackwell Publishing, pp 1-25.