This research video shows the effectiveness of bycatch reduction devices (or BRDs) used in the Oregon pink shrimp fishery.
The camera shows the face of a BRD (the silvery grate you see in the left side of the frame) located in the throat of a shrimp trawl net.
The device is used to exclude fish from the shrimp catch. In the video, you see
fish (eulachon smelt) leaving the field of
view at the top of the screen, where they
are escaping through a large hole in the net.
The small flecks you see going through the BRD and into the net are small
plankton (not shrimp).
The video shows that eulachon smelt are in very good condition at escape, capable of swimming forward and maintaining their vertical orientation. Another fish species, Pacific hake,
are also excluded by the BRDs.
The video shows that hake are also
in good physical condition when they
encounter the BRD, but are tired from
attempting to out-swim the moving
shrimp net.
The effectiveness of BRDs, other modifications to the design of shrimp trawl nets, and close management by the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, made the Oregon pink shrimp fishery the first shrimp fishery in the world to be certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.
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