Trawl Targeting by Design. Desert Diamond Large Pelagic Bycatch and Mammal Excluder Device

Bycatch excluder devices are nothing new and many successful designs were introduced in fisheries where bycatch of either seals or turtles were problematic. There are also designs which would exclude certain species and retain only the targeted species.

In South Africa’s midwater fishery, the Desert Diamond is the only dedicated vessel making use of a very big trawl with a circumference in the front opening of the trawl of over 1000m!