Pulse trawling as an alternative for beam trawling: insights from a spatial-agent based model

Pressure on the beam trawler fleet has strongly increased the last decade. First, high fuel prices resulted in high operational costs and a decline of the profit margins. Second, the beam trawler fleet, characterized by high by-catches of undersized species, is facing a major challenge with the implementation of the landing obligation. Third, traditional beam trawling with tickler chains has a high impact on the benthic ecosystem while ecological concerns are rising. Therefore, EU allowed the use of the pulse trawl fishing gear for a part of the beam trawler fleet active in the North Sea (EU, 2009). Uncertainty about the socio-economic impact obstructs the transition to pulse trawling in the Belgian fishery. This uncertainty caused by hidden disincentives may result in the so called implementation error and lead to unintended management outcomes (Fulton et al., 2011). By gaining insights in different scenarios concerning pulse trawling, this study aims to address this uncertainty of both fishermen and policy makers.