For anybody living near Hastings, the yellow wooden hulled RX60 Alfie Elliot is a familiar sight. In April she was cuttlefish potting; now Graham Coglan and the crew were gill netting, primarily for plaice and sole.

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The Hastings gill net sole fishery is being evaluated for MSC certification, so this fishery was of particular interest.

Like every fishing method, set gill netting has its environmental and fish quality strengths and weaknesses. Fish of a certain size put their heads through the mesh are caught by the gills and cannot back out. Smaller fish pass through the mesh. Larger fish can’t get their heads into the mesh. So in theory this is a highly selective fishery, and it is operated as such by responsible fishers. But in practice the catching power also depends on how and where the net is set. For example if it is bunched up, like a pulled curtain, it will be less selective, and this is not apparent from regulations such as mesh size. So in part selectivity is determined by individual boat practices.

A specific issue concerns plaice. ICES, the international body responsible for providing scientific advice, has said that sole is no danger of stock collapse, but is concerned about the large by-catch of young plaice under the minimum legal landing size that are caught with the sole by certain fisheries.

(Incidentally, trammel nets, the method certified by the MSC, are different from gill nets – gill nets may be more or less selective, depending on how either gear is set).

As on the Halcyon, the catch of sole and plaice below the legal landing size was minimal – fish close to the limit were checked, and just two or three were undersize and thrown back. The mesh size appeared to be 90 mm. Again, as on the Halcyon, a larger mesh size would catch larger fish. The fisher’s answer would no doubt be that if buyers give a better price for bigger fish, they will change mesh size.

So, unlike trawling which in general can have discard rates as high as 70% by numbers and 40% by weight, this fishery did not seem likely to be contributing to the ‘plaice’ problem identified by ICES. If the situation does get more difficult, set nets may have one other possible advantage – sole are active, and are caught in set nets at night, while plaice are active and caught during the day. Trawls will catch both species regardless of time of day.

ICES is also concerned about rays, whose population in the southern North Sea, at least, is a fraction of historic levels. As with the Halcyon, on this trip only a handful of rays were caught. If typical this will be far lower than trawler by-catch.

Soak time of the net was 24 hours so quality of the fish was good as they came out of the water.