ICES - FAO Working Group on Fishing Technology and Fish Behaviour (WGFTFB; outputs from 2022 meeting)

The Working Group on Fishing Technology and Fish Behaviour (WGFTFB) discusses and reviews research and practices of fishing technology and fish behaviour in relation to commercial and survey gears, and provides guidance for management including, inter alia, the impacts of fishing on the environment. The working group is jointly supported by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which have fostered a fruitful working relationship in an international forum. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group did not meet physically in 2020 and 2021. Whereas the 2020 meeting was cancelled, the 2021 group meeting was conducted solely online (organized by the planned host IMR Bergen/Norway). The 2022-Working group meeting was planned to be held from 28.03.2022 to 01.04.2022 as physical/hybrid meeting in Rostock (Germany).

Due to the postponement of all ICES meetings in March 2022, it was decided to hold a short online meeting on 23.05.2022 (see ICES' announcement at Important notice about ICES meetings). The aim of the short meeting was to – at least – give Working Group members the chance to meet and to discuss logistic aspects of the working group, such as end of term of duty for chairs and the 2023 meeting.

In addition to the outcome of the discussions during the meeting, this document also contains the national reports describing activities in different countries. National reports are structured to give an overview of current and planned activities in the institutes and organizations of the county that are active in research in fishing gear and fish behaviour. They are an important tool to stimulate collaborative research by highlighting research themes and sharing of ideas that other countries might also benefit from. Current national reports cover a broad field of gear technology research, including research related to bycatch reduction of target and bycatch species (including ETP-species - endangered, threatened and protected species), minimizing the effect on the marine environment, pollution and energy efficiency. In addition to classical gear technology approaches, several projects are presented that focus on techniques, such as computer vision.