Closing established areas to fishing may protect some benthic communities but it may also lead to increased exploitation of more vulnerable components of stock and increase the socio-economic strains on fishery-dependent communities.
As an alternative to this approach to environmental protection, DEGREE:
- Developed new fishing gear (otter trawl, beam trawl, dredges) that reduced the adverse effects on the seabed and benthic communities
- Quantified the potential reduced effect on habitats and benthic communities
- Assessed the socio-economic consequences of introducing these gear in established fisherie
