Researchers at the Norwegian College of Fishery Science have seen encouraging results from a new hauling system used in longline fishing.
During December 2006 the prototype of the new system was tested on board the 51m autoline vessel “Loran” from Godø, near Aalesund, targeting cod, haddock and Greenland halibut.
In the conventional operation of an autoline vessel every fish has to be lifted on board by a gaff during the de-hooking process. During rough weather and in areas where fish density is higher, many fish are lost in the process.
With the new hauling system, designed by Delitek, fish are de-hooked inside a closed system at a roller and fish falling from the hooks before reaching the roller are caught inside the well before reaching the bleeding station. The gaff is removed and line caught fish are no longer exposed to gaff marks, which reduced quality and outcome during fillet production.
The hauling process is also monitored by video cameras, so the fish can be followed from around 10m below the vessel and all the way through the process until they reach the bleeding table.
The results show that the loss of fish was significantly reduced using the new system, showing values of 1% for cod (from 5%), less than 2% for haddock (from 12%) and well under 1% for Greenland halibut (from 15%).
World Fishing will be covering this project in further detail in the June 2007 issue.
