Gear that disappears.
While no captain wants to lose gear, it does happen.
Commercial fishing boats operate in a robust natural environment, where weather systems and underwater situations can change rapidly and occasionally outstrip our onboard systems and capabilities.
Given our fleet fish the same water, it’s in everyone’s interest to minimise the experience and impact of lost gear.
Compostable lines, snoods and hooks.
Developments are underway to fast-track the delivery of compostable elements in the long-line system - lines, snoods and hooks. This fits with a shared desire to reduce undersea clutter that can impact our environment and fishing operations over time.
Beauline champions the use of advanced carbon steel hooks, renowned as the strongest hooks on market, which rust at significantly faster rates than stainless steel hooks. Advances in snood material means they can now dissolve over a matter of years rather than the decades it takes existing materials. And mainlines, generally rope but also monofilament, can now be produced from faster dissolving material.
Challenges in uptake of new types of gear exist. All gear has to retain its strength to withstand the elements and catch fish. Also, in an industry where boats operate as individual business units, each can be price sensitive to substantial cost differentials in gear - dramatically more expensive future-focused solutions can be difficult to sell and scale up given current cost structures and volume demands.
These are vital issues that the industry continues to work through to make it easier for environmentally sustainable solutions to scale to current industry realities.