Australia’s South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association (SETFIA) and Sydney fisherman Vince Bagnato are due to trial a bycatch reduction device that excludes gulper sharks from Royal Red Prawn nets, from late April.

The gulper shark exclusion device. Photo courtesy of SETFIA

The gulper shark exclusion device. Photo courtesy of SETFIA

Harrisson’s Dogfish and Southern Dogfish are part of a group of sharks called upper slope dogfish or gulper sharks. In February 2013 AFMA implemented the Upper Slope Dogfish Management Strategy which is designed to halt population declines of gulper sharks caused by fishing and support the recovery of the species. The strategy includes a network of fishery closures, and one of the closures off Sydney includes an area where fishermen historically caught Royal Red Prawns.

Research scientists have called the device a gulper shark exclusion device or GED for short. The GED is an angled aluminium grid in the net that will deflect gulper sharks and other large fish out of the net unharmed, while the smaller Royal Red Prawns pass through to be caught.

The research will use AFMA observers and underwater cameras to understand how gulper sharks are ejected from the GED in the trawl net. If the GED is successful, AFMA will allow the trial to be conducted inside the closure for further testing, and to determine if Royal Red Prawn fishing with such a net in gulper shark closures presents an acceptably low risk to gulper shark populations without unduly reducing prawn catch.

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