Theme 4: Marine biological resources / Fishing and fish farming

When fishing, a trawler uses the equivalent in fuel of almost one third of its turnover. The figures speak for themselves: almost 1 litre of fuel per kilo of fish caught. The most recent crisis in fishing and the steep rise in diesel costs have made those involved in the industry aware of the need to save energy for fishing to remain a sustainable activity.

The aim of the EFFICHALUT project is to develop software that will simulate trawling at sea making it possible to reduce gear drag and, thereby, fuel consumption. EFFICHALUT is the experimental phase of HYDROPECHE, a research project funded by the Direction des Pêches Maritimes et de l’Aquaculture (DPMA – Sea Fishing and Aquaculture Directorate), as part of the first round of its project funding in 2008. The project’s initial digital findings have proved conclusive in terms of improved energy efficiency, pointing to savings of over 10%, and these now need to be corroborated at sea. In real-life conditions, EFFICHALUT will confirm the results that are expected in terms of achievable energy savings through optimising trawl design without compromising fishing efficiency.

Until now, trawl optimisation tests to reduce energy consumption, in particular using numerical simulation as part of the DYNAMIT programme, have focused on net mesh size, netting diameter and trawl doors. The EFFICHALUT project will alter the size of the constituent parts of the trawl net to reduce drag. With the agreement of industry professionals who are providing the trawl design template, measures to optimise performance will be automatically introduced on an individual basis. These will not increase catch capacity.

As its starting point, the project is using the gear template – trawl/trawl doors/sonar – arising from work carried out by the Comité Régional des Pêches de Bretagne (Brittany Regional Fishing Committee) and the Coopérative Maritime Etaploise (Etaple-sur-Mer Maritime Cooperative) working group, a design that also incorporates the latest related developments.

© IFREMER

EFFICHALUT project partners

Companies

• Coopératives Maritimes Etaploises – Producers’ organisation – Traditional fishing at Etaple–sur-Mer (Pas de Calais), project director

• AEMI, Caen and Boulogne, is one of the leading French suppliers and installers of maritime industry electronic, radio-electronic and trawl sonar equipment

• MORGERE, Saint-Malo, founded over 100 years ago, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of trawl doors operating on oceans across the world

• LE DREZEN, Lorient, specialising in net manufacture, is a major supplier of markets in France and abroad and is committed to adapting its products to the latest developments in fishing techniques.

Research centres

• IFREMER, Brest, Boulogne-sur-Mer and Lorient research centres

• Professional organisations

• Comité Régional des Pêches Maritimes et des Elevages Marins (Regional Sea Fishing and Fish Farming Committee), for Nord/Pas-de-Calais/Picardie and based in Boulogne-sur-mer

• Comité Régional des Pêches Maritimes et des Elevages Marins (Regional Sea Fishing and Fish Farming Committee), for Brittany and based in Rennes

Contact :

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EFFICHALUT is officially recognised jointly with the Pôle Aquimer. It receives support as part of the DPMA second round of funded projects.