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comm. 2013).Whilst fishing for sole had been good, unusually low prices had been experienced due to the high volume of landings coupled with other market forces. At the time of consultation, sole and plaice were achieving the following prices when landed into Dutch ports: small sized sole, approximately £5.00 per kg, larger sizes £8.00 to £10.00 per kg. The average price of plaice was reported to be around £1.10 for smaller sizes and £1.40 per kg for larger sizes.


95. Traditional Dutch ‘open’ beam gear comprises a cylindrical steel beam of up to 12m


in length, supported at each end by steel shoes or high density rubber wheels up to 0.7m in height. The headline of the net is attached to the beam and the ground line to the inner corners of the sole plates of the shoes. Ahead of the groundline are rigged a series of heavy “tickler chains”. Over rough ground and when fishing for sole, chain mats may also be fitted. The fully rigged (in air) weight of the gear varies from 5.2 to 8.2 tonnes.


96. Towing heavy gear incurs high fuel costs and recent increases in fuel prices have led


to the development of new beam trawl technologies. The recently developed sum wing is one such innovation. This is effectively a hydrofoil of the same width as traditional beam trawls (e.g. 12m), onto which the net and chains are attached (see Plate 14.1). As the only part of the Sum Wing to make contact with the substrate is the guide on the centre of the wing, drag is greatly reduced. During previous consultation undertaken by BMM (2011, 2012) skippers stated that use of this gear can result in reductions of fuel costs by approximately 20%.


97. This principal has been progressed further by the development of Pulse Wing gear in


which the tickler chains and chain mats are replaced by a series of trailed electrodes that emit low voltage pulses (Plate 14.2) that drive the fish out of the sediment into the approaching trawl. The absence of heavy tickler chains and reduced contact with the sea bed can reduce fuel consumption by up to 50% compared with traditional open beam gear and also results in less damage to the sea bed and associated epibenthos and benthos.


98. During consultation it was indicated that Pulse Wing gear targets sole more efficiently than plaice and that as a result a shift in the location of grounds fished had occurred as increasing numbers of vessels convert gear types. Specifically, activity is now higher west of the Brown Ridge; an area of ground located along the eastern boundary of the East Anglia Zone. Approximately 80% of vessels targeting grounds in the area of the proposed East Anglia THREE project now use Pulse Wings, with the remaining 20% using a mixture of open beam gear and Sum Wings. Electric fishing is currently prohibited under EU fisheries regulations and as such the use of a Pulse


Preliminary Environmental Information May 2014


East Anglia THREE Offshore Windfarm


Chapter 14 Commercial Fisheries Page 35


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