Background, rules and timetable

Cefas has been working with various SW beam-trawler skippers, owners and net makers in recent years to develop simple trawl modifications that reduce discard levels. Considerable progress was made using a simple square-mesh “drop-out” panel fitted to the aft belly of the beam trawl. Although this panel produced much cleaner catches, several skippers found some practical problems, such as weed build-up, stone entrapment, etc. The Clean Fishing competition was a practical way to generate new ideas that actually work on the fishing grounds.

The competition was announced in Fishing News on 14 July 2006. Entrants had to register by 31 August 2006, and the competition officially began in September 2006.

Competition prize monies totalling £20,000 was offered for the best ideas. The prizes were funded by a grant from the European Union’s Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG).

Competition rules

1. Entrants are required to send their proposals to Cefas by 31 August 2006
2. The competition will consist of submission of a proposal for fishing gear modification trials in UK waters over the period 14 September 2006 to 28 February 2007. Entrants must be available to complete the trials during this period.
3. Entrants must have access to an operational and fully licenced SW whitefish commercial beam trawler for the duration of the trial period and have the permission of the vessel’s skipper and owner to participate in the trial.
4. All proposals will be considered by a Cefas evaluator, and all entrants will be notified whether their proposal has been accepted for the sea trials phase or not. In considering proposals, the evaluator will look for evidence that the proposal is technically feasible and reasonably inexpensive to set up and operate.
5. In the event of two or more identical acceptable proposals being received from different entrants, the evaluator will decide how many of the proposals to accept depending on the overall number of proposals. If it is deemed necessary by the evaluator to choose to accept only some of the identical proposals, the proposals received first will be accepted.
6. Entrants whose proposals are accepted for the trials stage will be required to confirm their participation in the trials, and in doing so, they agree to be monitored by an independent evaluator during the trial. This will involve collaboration with the independent evaluator who will assess the efficacy of the modified fishing gear during the trial.
7. In the event that an entrant abandons the trial before completion, they must inform Cefas and their competition entry will be withdrawn.
8. Following the completion of the trials, entrants will be encouraged to send a short report to Cefas by 28 February 2007, outlining the results of the trial and any relevant observations.
9. The judges will decide on the winning entrant(s) based on the information collected from the trial monitoring and any available entrants’ reports. In reaching their decisions, the judges will consider:
   • Cost of purchase of the technology
   • Cost of fitting / rigging of the technology
   • Ease of fitting / rigging of the technology
   • Durability of the technology
   • Evidence that the technology has functioned consistently over time (ie, 6 months +)
   • Ability of the technology to produce clean catches (reduction in non-target species bycatch)
   • Losses of marketable sized fish and associated revenue due to the technology
   • Transferability of the technology to other vessels
   • Range of conditions under which the technology is functional (areas, seasons)
   • The quality of the supporting evidence
   • Co-operation with the independent evaluator.
10. The prize money will be to the total value of £20,000, which will consist of a prize for each of the top three proposals decided by the judging panel based on the above criteria. The value of each of these three prizes will one prize of £12,000 and two runners-up prizes of £4,000 each. Prizes will be awarded to the named entrant(s) specified on the competition entry form.
11. Winning entrants will be notified by telephone by 30 April 2007 and may be invited to a reception to receive their prize. Winners will be required to take part in publicity relating to their competition win in order to promote the winning modification(s). This and any subsequent publicity will allow free use and industry-wide promotion of the winning ideas, placing them in the public domain. All other entrants will be notified by letter that they have not won, and be given an outline of the winning modification(s) in order to share best practice. No further correspondence will be entered into by the evaluators or the judges.

Competition timetable

• Closing date for proposals 31 August 2006
• Evaluation of proposals by 14 September 2006
• Notify entrants of acceptance or rejection for trials by 14 September 2006
• Entrants to confirm trial participation to Cefas by 30 September 2006
• Entrants commence trial by 1 October 2006
• Entrants complete trial by 28 February 2007
• Entrants send (optional) short trial report to Cefas by 28 February 2007
• Evaluation of trials and decision on winners and prize money allocation by 14 April 2007
• Notify all entrants of results by 30 April 2007
• Prize awards in May 2007