The Future of Trawling : Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Shrimp Fishery

Trawling method has been described since 20 after JC. Since this time trawling techniques never stop to develop and nowadays high technologies like hydrodynamics modeling, submarine videos and new material are used to develop and built new eco-friendly trawls technology.  However, despite important progress accomplished the last decades, today trawling techniques are still described like the most damaging fishing method by environmentalists. Bottom impacts and poor selectivity of this fishing gear are the centre of controversy. However, trawling is one of the most common ways to catch fish on a commercial scale. Consequently, this talk will try to answer the question: Is trawling can be sustainable?  Indeed, in a trawl system the gear selectivity, the drag, the fuel consumption and bottom impacts are linked together and the same innovation can be used both to improve the profitability of a fishing company and also reduce the ecological footprint of this fishing method. Some of these innovations tested in the gulf of St-Lawrence to reduce the impact or improve the selectivity are presented.