Seafish, the UK seafood authority, has announced that the UK National Scallop Development Group has launched a competition to encourage new and innovative ideas for a scallop dredge that is commercially efficient and reduces environmental impact on the seabed.
Entries are invited from the fishing industry, engineering and technology businesses, universities, colleges and other organisations, with collaborative approaches especially welcome. As well as limited grant funding to help with development costs and expenses, there will be a prize of £3,000 for the scallop harvesting system that in the opinion of the management board performs the best against the specified criteria with measurably reduced environmental effects.
“The aim of the UK National Scallop Development Group is to raise standards in scallop dredging practice, particularly in relation to the environmental effects of this type of fishing. There are approximately 200 active vessels in the UK scallop fleet and on average the fleet spends £2.3 million each year on fishing gear,” said Bill Lart, Seafish Project Manager and competition co-ordinator.
The closing date for initial proposals is 31 October 2009. All proposals will be reviewed in November 2009 and a plan for construction and testing will be agreed for promising designs. Prototypes will be tested and judged in June 2010 on RV Prince Madog, the University of Bangor research vessel.
