Programme Seal and Fisheries in Sweden and the future? Sven Gunnar - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Programme Seal and Fisheries in Sweden and the future? Sven Gunnar Lunneryd Department of Aquatic Resources , Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

The Seals and Fisheries Program : Started 1994, a council of authorities and stakeholders as fishermen The main goal of the program is to develop mitigation methods to minimize the increasing seal and fisheries conflict 5000 7 000 10 000 15 000 22 000 33 000 49 000 Grey seal Year 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018

Gear development Pontoon (pushup) trap, the rescue for the salmon fishery in north Baltic

Pontoon trap after salmon and white fish Seal grid in the entrance

Hidden damage

Rouge seals

Cod fishery with net and hook SE Sweden Bornholm 2001 199 vessels 2017 76 vessels

Asumptions: Seals eat the same amount fish as the catch during a seal interaction Swedish Water Agency for Water Management, SWAM Königson, S., Lunneryd, S-G., Stridh, H. and Sundqvist, F. (2009) Grey Seal Predation in Cod Gillnet Fisheries in the Central Baltic Sea. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci., Vol. 42 Königson et al. 2019. Hidden losses in cod gillnet (in prep.) A grey seal eat around 5 kg fish every day. Grey seal eat more or less only cod in south Baltic

Amount of seal feeding Theoretical not more then 170 seals that cause the problem!

Gill net and hook fishery in presence of seals • Unconditional a dinner table for seals • Makes the fishery unprofitable • A waste with a valuable resource • In Sweden it’s only in perch and flounder net fishery that the seal damage is not devasting (So far) Even with a management of seal it’s necassary with implementation of new seal safe fishing gears

Development and implemenatation of alternative fishing gear - Comparable catches in alternative fishing gear as to traditional fishing gear - Low invironmental impact: selecivity, by-catches, fuel efficient - Seal-safe; protect the catch and minimize the seals reward - Accetable practical handling Coastal Laboratory

Cod traps work Ystad 2015 Pontoon traps is not the best option, as the trap need to stand at the bottom

Next generation Botoom standing with 4 netarms

Cod pots trials in Sweden during 15 years A commercial fishery started 2017 with 3 fishermen in county Blekinge But 2019 very low catches

Large scale pot project in Ystad 2018-2020

Fishing with an experimental set up Ystad No pots 40 393 228 288 265 290 209

The smallest pot 0,75x0,75x0,35 m. Yesterday 25 cod in one pot

Coastal bottom seine net - Active method as an alternative to some of the gill net fishery Long towing ropes extending from the wings of the net that herd the fish into the path of the net.

Flounder seine net Gotland So far no impact of the botoom

Experience from Sweden Flounder Vendace Several advantages compared with gillnet and trawls Cod and herring next

Concluding remarks Gear development is essential to have a costal fishery in the future! To succeed in gear development we need: Active fishermen, who invest time and effort Innovators and gear manufacturers Agencies (rules, economic support and research) Cooperation in the Baltic Sustainable and ecosystem based management of our fish and seal populations No fish - No need for new fishing gear!!!