Use of avoidance behaviours to reduce the economic impacts of the EU Landing Obligation: the case study of a mixed trawl fishery

The EU Landing Obligation (LO) is designed to reduce bycatch (i.e. unwanted catch) through more selective fishing practices, such as avoidance behaviours which consist in allocating fishing effort to other species, fishing grounds or seasons. Incentives for fishers to change their behaviours depend on their economic performances as well as their ability to avoid bycatch. Changes in economic performances under the LO are evaluated based on cost and revenue equations. The nested grid method is then used to explore the spatial and temporal distribution of landings and discards, and to suggest alternative effort allocation to avoid bycatch. This article is focussed specifically on the French otter trawl fishery in the eastern English Channel and southern North Sea. Results suggest that under the LO the choke species problem will curtail fishing activities earlier in the year, leading to significant economic losses. In the absence of significant quota top-ups (at least 75%), a change in fishing practices consisting in reducing overall bycatch by 30% is insufficient to reduce losses. With a particular attention to choke species, more economically efficient avoidance strategies can be found thanks to the nested grid method.