Gear Trials Program

The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation's (CFRF) Gear Trials Program, being implemented in partnership with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program, is currently underway. The program is focused on providing assistance to fishing vessels interested in installing one or both of two gear types - 12" drop chain and the large mesh belly panel - which have proven to successfully reduce winter flounder bycatch in the small mesh trawl fisheries. To date some 44 fishing vessels have applied to be part of the program and are reporting back their general findings in terms of gear performance. Additional quantitative field research was also begun in the summer of 2013 to test the effectiveness of these gear types in reducing winter flounder bycatch specifically in the whiting fishery.