Fishing gear transitions: lessons from the Dutch flatfish pulse trawl

Abstract This paper focuses on the transition in the Dutch cutter fleet-targeting flatfish, from the conventional beam trawl to the pulse trawl fishing gear. In doing so, we explore the process of gear transition, presenting the challenges that fishers and policy-makers face. The pulse trawl technique represents a particularly controversial gear transition as it makes use of electricity, which has been banned by the European Union since 1988. However, it is seen by those developing it in the Netherlands as an important alternative fishing gear to the conventional beam trawl technique, which is... Mehr ...