Fisheries Research 93 (2008) 117124

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Fisheries Research
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Strategies for improving fuel efciency in the Portuguese trawl shery
Joaquim Parente

, Paulo Fonseca, Victor Henriques, Aida Campos

INRB/L-IPIMAR National Institute for Biological Resources/Fisheries Research Laboratory, Avenida de Braslia, 1449-006 Lisbon, Portugal
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 31 October 2007
Received in revised form 6 March 2008
Accepted 6 March 2008
Keywords:
Portuguese trawlers
Fuel saving
Energy economy
Models
Flume tank
a b s t r a c t
The recent rise in oil prices has brought renewed attention to energy savings in the shing industry, and
particularly in trawling. Coastal trawlers spend most of their time on shing grounds near the coast. In
such cases, the most successful energy-saving modications ought to result from changes in the shing
gear and towing conditions. The purpose of this study was to identify the energy-economy potential
for Portuguese sh trawlers after altering a vessels operating conditions and improving its trawl gear
performance. Two trawlers, named Tricana de Aveiro and Joao Macedo were selected as subjects in this
project. Both vessels work with gear of similar design and size. Experimental sea trials were carried out
to elucidate the actual vessel and gear performance. A model trawl was then built and tested in a ume
tank, which provided the basis for improving the gear design. Full-scale trials were then carried out with
both vessels using the modied trawls in order to assess changes in gear performance. The new trawls
maintained their previous ability to catch species of different ecological groups and consumed less fuel at
the same commercial trawling speed. An economic study showed potential increases in the net cash ow
(NCF) of up to 27% over the range of operational navigation and trawling speeds. Having demonstrated
the performance of the newtrawls, the skippers of both vessels subsequently adopted the newdesign for
commercial shing.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Harvesting sh from the sea requires a large amount of energy,
although the energy requirements can vary substantially depend-
ing on the type of shery. Tyedmers et al. (2005) estimated world
sheryfuel consumptionat 50billion(5010
9
) l. Whileconsidered
serious underestimates, these gures nonetheless correspond to
about 1.2% of the global fuel consumption. On the other hand, a
tonne of fuel is consumed for each 1.9tonnes of sh captured, and
1.7tonnes of CO
2
is released for each tonne landed. As such, fuel
consumption is both an economical and environmental problem.
Energy saving has been a subject of research since the 1970s oil
crisis, leading to several studies aimed at improving vessel design
and power consumption. Special attention has been given to hull
resistance and tests in model basins. Benets were identied from
using bulbous bows in small shing vessels, leading to a reduction
in fuel consumption of 1530% during sailing (Kasper, 1983). Gains
in propulsive efciency between 10 and 17% during free navigation
were also attained using ducted propellers in trawlers (Basa nez,
1975). Large savings in fuel consumption (up to 28%) could also
be obtained from this type of propeller by towing at lower speeds
(ODogherty et al., 1981).

Corresponding author. Tel.: +351 21 3027162; fax: +351 21 3015948.

E-mail address: jparente@ipimar.pt (J. Parente).
Inadditiontovessel design, special attentionhas alsobeengiven
to vessel operations. Efcient ship operation is required for long-
termfuel economyof thevessel, andentails selectingthebest route,
draft and trim; adequate maintenance of the hull and machinery;
and a rational exploitation of the available systems by well-trained
crews. The choice of the best running point (that is, the vessels
operating speed that maximizes cash ow), both in trawling and
in free navigation, is a major contribution toward energy savings
and must be continuously adjusted according to vessel require-
ments.
Trawlers are among the most fuel-demanding shing vessels.
This is due to the high towing resistance associated with the gears;
the netting drag alone typically accounts for 60% of the total gear
resistance (Wileman, 1984). Reducing the netting surface by using
larger meshes in the net forepart (wings and square) may signi-
cantly reduce net drag without affecting the trawl mouth area and
thus the catch efciency. This is particularly true for those species
that display herding behaviour inside the trawl (Fiorentini et al.,
1987).
Other possibilities for reducing the net drag have also been
recently investigated, such as the use of knotless netting and thin-
ner twine. Ward et al. (2005) compared the drag of twin trawls
made of traditional polyethylene twine with similar trawls of
reduced twine diameters, and reported a drag reduction of 6% and
anincrease inmouthopening of 10%. Alterations tothe gear rigging,
such as the number of bridles and their relative length, may also
0165-7836/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.shres.2008.03.001
118 J. Parente et al. / Fisheries Research 93 (2008) 117124
Nomenclature
A mouth area (m
2
)
C total catch per haul (kg)
C
w
crew variable wages per trip (D )
CPUE catch per unit effort (kg/h)
D total distance covered per trip (in free navigation)
F fuel costs per trip (D )
K sumof all xed costs per trip (capital costs, mainte-
nance, insurance, crewxed wages, administration,
other costs) (D )
m 1.05 (margin for lubricating oil costs as a fraction of
fuel costs)
n number of hauls
NCF net cash ow per trip (D )
p unit sh price (D /kg)
p
f
unit fuel price (D /kg)
p (%) crew percentage over the total catch value (0.35 for
all vessels tested)
q
h
hauling fuel rate (l/h)
q
n
navigation fuel rate (l/h)
q
p
harbour fuel rate (l/h)
q
s
setting fuel rate (l/h)
q
t
trawling fuel rate (l/h)
R total catch value per trip (D )
T total trip duration (h)
T
h
average hauling duration (h)
T
n
total time spent in free navigation per trip (h)
T
p
total time navigating inside the harbour (h)
T
s
average setting duration (h)
T
T
(tr) total trawling duration per trip (h)
T
t
average trawling duration (h)
V free navigation speed (kn)
V
t
trawling speed (kn)

f
sh density per unit volume of water (kg/m
3
)
strongly affect the net shape and drag and consequently improve
the overall trawl efciency.
Recent oil price increases have brought renewed attention to
energy-saving methods in the shing industry (e.g., Project Green
Fish
1
; Leblanc, 2005), including the use of alternative fuels and
lubricants (such as bio-diesel and bio-lubricants). However, due
to the European Commission restrictions on new constructions,
the major opportunities for reducing fuel consumption are chiey
related to improving vessel operation rather than commissioning
new energy-saving vessels. Fuel-efcient gear design continues to
be a top priority for improving the efciency of the existing shing
eet (European Commission, 2006).
The objective of this study was to identify the fuel-economy
potential for Portuguese sh trawlers either by changing the ves-
sels operating conditions or by improving the trawl gear design.
Coastal trawlers were chosen for study since they spend most of
their time trawling near the coast, and thus might expect the great-
est energy-saving return from changes of shing gear.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Choice of vessels
The existence of two primary m etiers has traditionally been
assumed for the Portuguese coastal trawl shery: crustaceans and
1
http://www.peixeverde.org/peixe org eng/index.htm (last accessed
2007/10/01).
sh. Each corresponds to well-dened eets of 26 and 70 active
vessels, respectively (DGPA, 2004). According to the statistics of
the General-Directorate for Fisheries (DGPA, 2004), the mean val-
ues of gross tonnage and engine power for the shing eet are
183.8tonnes (standarddeviationS.D., 70.9) and712HP(S.D., 285.9),
respectively. It is a coastal eet accustomed to short (3 day average)
shingtrips. Themainspecies landedarehorsemackerel (Trachurus
trachurus, accounting for around 40% of the total catch), followed
by blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) and other semi-pelagic
sh, and nally other cephalopods (squids and octopuses; DGPA,
2004).
The present study focused on two trawlers fromthe Portuguese
eet, since sh trawls usually offer a wide basis for gear mod-
ications. The increase in mesh size in the trawl fore is one of
the measures usually tested to reduce the net drag in these types
of trawls. This is because most sh species, unlike crustaceans,
display herding behaviour within the net area. Such behaviour
translates to a larger catching efciency despite the larger mesh
sizes. The two trawlers studied were the Tricana de Aveiro and
Joao Macedo, each of approximately 24moverall length and 600HP
engines. Eachvessel lands adiversiednumber of species, including
horse mackerel, other species swimming near the ocean bottom,
and benthic species such as octopus and atsh. These catches
belong to a well-dened landing prole (homogeneous group in
terms of species composition) recently dened in Campos et al.
(2007).
2.2. Trawl design
The technical drawings and rigging details for trawl T
1
(of the
Tricana de Aveiro) and trawl J
1
(of the Joao Macedo) are very sim-
ilar. Both trawls are reinforced in the lower belly using a thicker
polyamide (PA) twine that is usually found in trawls of Spanish
design, anddifferedmainlyinthe meshsizes of the different panels.
The footropes are made of steel wire rope covered with polyethy-
lene and have extra chain weight protection in the bosom, lower
quarters andat the wingends. The technical drawing for J
1
, together
with the footrope details, are shown in Fig. 1.
2.3. Data collected and measuring devices
A total of eight trials were carried out during the study. For each
vessel, an experimental and a commercial trial were carried out at
the two different phases of the project (before and after trawl gear
optimization) inorder tomeasurefuel consumptionunder different
vessel-operating conditions. The vessels consumables (water and
fuel supplies) at the start of the trials were kept the same in both
vessels to ensure identical testing conditions.
Afuel monitoring systemwas installed ineachvessel. The work-
ing time duration of the engine, the engine speed, the total fuel
consumption and the instant fuel rate were logged by the sys-
tem. Data on the exhaust temperature and vessel speed (over
the ocean bottom) were obtained from vessel instruments (such
as engine temperature gauges and GPS equipment, respectively).
Trawl geometry (e.g., the vertical opening at the centre of the head-
line, and the wingend and otterboard spread) and the water owin
the towing direction were measured by hydroacoustic (Scanmar)
sensors. In the commercial sea trials, the catch weight was also
registered for all commercial species.
A typical round trip for a coastal trawler consists of several
operating situations for different engine loadings. Fishing vessels
with a controllable pitch propeller have an optimum combina-
tion of pitch and propeller revolutions for each operating situation,
leading to optimum specic engine fuel consumption. However,
during free running, it is common practice to transfer some
power from the main engine to constant displacement hydraulic
J. Parente et al. / Fisheries Research 93 (2008) 117124 119
Fig. 1. Technical drawings of the J
1
trawl (FV Joao Macedo), together with footrope details.
pumps and AC generators through power take-offs, forcing the
main engine to run at a constant speed. Having this in mind,
changes in the vessel-operating situation were carried out only
through propeller pitch variation, although this is not the best
procedure to optimize both specic fuel consumption and engine
efciency.
2.4. Experimental sea trials
Data on the above parameters were collected at several pro-
peller pitch increments up to the maximum working pitch, both in
trawlingandinnavigation. For eachpitchincrement, operatingcon-
ditions were kept constant for 15min. Fuel rate was then recorded
under both conditions as a function of trawling speed and engine
exhaust temperature.
Gear geometry was recorded over a range of trawling speeds,
including the average speed used in commercial shing. The main
parameters characterizing the gear performance, namely verti-
cal opening, wingend spread and otterboard spread, were also
recorded as a function of trawling speed (as measured by a speed
sensor).
2.5. Commercial sea trials
The vessel performance was evaluated at the different phases
of the shing trip (Table 1). This allowed for a full characterization
of the average trip for each vessel. A phase is dened as the sum of
several sub-phases repeated along the trip (e.g., the trawling phase
is the sum of all trawling operations). The relevant parameters for
each sub-phase are presented in Table 1, and include the working
time T of the engine, the fuel consumption Q, the average vessel
speed, the average exhaust temperature T (

C), and the average fuel

rate q.
120 J. Parente et al. / Fisheries Research 93 (2008) 117124
Table 1
Characterization of the commercial trip and parameters registered during the different sub-phases
Phase Description Parameters registered during the sub-phases
Harbour navigation Harbour manoeuvres and conditioned navigation inside the harbour T, Q
Free navigation Travel between the harbour and the shing ground, as well as navigation between the shing grounds T, Q, V, T (

C), q
Setting/hauling Setting and hauling operations T, Q
Trawling Trawling operations T, Q, V, T (

C), q
Miscellaneous Net repairing, waiting for dawn to set the gear, and other unforeseen events T, Q
Parameters include T, time duration (h); Q, fuel consumption (l); V, average vessel speed (kn); T (

C), average exhaust temperature; q, average fuel rate (l/h).

2.6. Alterations to trawl design
When improving trawl efciency, either a new trawl can be
adopted or alterations can be introduced to the existing gear with-
out a radical design change. The rst hypothesis seemed unlikely
since Portuguese shermen, as with shermen in other countries,
are typically not receptive to suddenchanges inwork habits. There-
fore, we decided to modify currently used trawls with the aim
of decreasing trawl drag without affecting catch efciency. Model
tests were carried out in IFREMERs ume tank at Boulogne-sur-
Mer. A1:15scalemodel was usedbasedontheoriginal trawl design,
which was then further modied and tested according to the new
(and hopefully improved) specications.
Only the net itself was scaled down, together with a small por-
tion of the sweeps, in order to obtain accurate measurements of
net drag and geometry. Given the similarities in shape between the
original J
1
and T
1
trawls, with only small differences in the overall
mesh size and total twine surface area (J
1
: 98.2m
2
; T
1
: 104.9m
2
),
the ume tank tests were carried out over a single trawl model
based on the J
1
trawl design.
The main trawl alteration was to increase the mesh size at the
wings and square; this is the optimum method to improve the
mouth area without increasing net drag. However, an important
percentage of the total catch for both the J
1
and T
1
trawls cor-
respond to species that do not display herding behaviour (e.g.,
octopuses; see Table 2) and this has tempered the amount of allow-
able mesh size increase. The former mesh sizes used in the lower
and upper wings (80mm, full mesh) were increased to 100 and
120mm, respectively, in the new design. The square was divided
into two sections: the rst with 120mmmesh sizes and the second
with 100mm mesh sizes (Fig. 2).
Further changes inthe original trawl designincluded alterations
to the wingends, which were modied into a V-shape by chang-
ing the panel cuttings. By doing so, it was possible to eliminate
some useless netting while also tting a third bridle at the joining
level of the two faces. The extra bridle decreased the tension on the
upper bridle and trawl headline, which favoured the vertical open-
ing. Alterations to the cuttings were also performed in the panels at
the belly section, while the number of meshes at the codendjoining
row was made equal in order to match their widths.
Following the tests on the optimized model, a new full-scale
trawl J
2
(Fig. 2) was tested at sea. Adjustments were made to the
length of the lower bridle during the full-scale trials in order to
optimize the mouth area. Performance comparisons of the two
generations of full-scale trawls focused on the following criteria:
rst, the WS/VO ratio, as a measure of the amount of trawl atten-
ing over the ocean bottom. High ratios are characteristic of trawls
adapted to the capture crustaceans and benthic sh, while low
ratios lendthemselves tocatchingshwithhigher vertical distribu-
tions, such as horse mackerels; second, the mouth area (A), roughly
estimatedas theproduct betweenthevertical openingandthewin-
gendspread(that is, VOWS); third, the trawl resistance, for which
values were obtained during the tests with the ume tank.
2.7. Economic analysis
The average parameter values were used as inputs when
computing the economical analysis of each vessels trip. These
parameters included the total distance covered per trip, D; the total
trip duration, T; the number of hauls, n; the average duration of
hauling and setting, or T
h
and T
s
, respectively; the total time navi-
gating inside the harbour, T
p
; the fuel rate during hauling, setting
andharbour navigation, or q
h
, q
s
, andq
p
, respectively; the unit price
of sh, p; and the unit price of fuel, p
f
. Based on those parameters,
it was possible to simulate the potential for fuel savings and the
net cash ow (NCF) variation, assuming different combinations of
the navigationandtrawling speeds andthe corresponding values of
fuel rate during navigation and trawling, or q
n
and q
t
, respectively.
The NCF for a shing trip is computed as below (see Nomenclature
for an explanation of the variables):
NCF = R F C
w
K, (1)
Table 2
Percent catch, revenues, and CPUE for trawl T
1
(vessel Tricana de Aveiro) and trawl J
1
(vessel Joao Macedo)
Species Catch (%) CPUE (kg/h) Revenues (%)
T. Aveiro
Horse mackerel 41 31.08 Pouting 30
Pouting 27 20.57 Horse mackerel 25
Skate 11 7.83 Skate 13
Octopus 6 4.71 Atlantic john dory 7
Blue whiting 3 2.55 Common sole 7
Large sc. gurnard 3 2.04 Octopus 5
Total catch 75.54
J. Macedo
Octopus 38 10.45 Octopus 34
Pouting 15 4.18 Common squid 21
Horse mackerel 14 3.74 Pouting 14
Small spotted dogsh 7 2.00 Horse mackerel 7
Common squid 6 1.57 Atlantic john dory 5
Large sc. gurnard 5 1.31 Seabass 5
Total catch 27.69
J. Parente et al. / Fisheries Research 93 (2008) 117124 121
Fig. 2. Technical drawings of the J
2
trawl and rigging specications.
where R is the total catch value per trip, F is the fuel costs per trip,
C
w
is the variable crew wages per trip, and K is the xed costs per
trip. Additionally, we have
R = C n p, (2)
where C is the total catch per haul. According to Dahle (1982), this
can be simulated by
C = (V
t
0.5147 T
t
3600 A)
f
, (3)
122 J. Parente et al. / Fisheries Research 93 (2008) 117124
Table 3
Operational parameters under two different working conditions during navigation,
and corresponding fuel rate decrease obtained through speed reduction
FV Tricana de Aveiro FV Joao Macedo
A B A B
V (kn) 10.0 9.6 9.7 8.6
q (l/h) 96 78 125 92
T (

C) 417 362 387 330

Speed reduction (%) 4 11
Fuel rate decrease (%) 19 26
A denotes original condition and B denotes estimated critical speed.
where V
t
is the trawling speed, T
t
is the average trawling duration,
and
f
the sh density per unit volume. Here,
f
was calculated
by considering the average parameters for C, V
t
, T
t
and A obtained
during the second sea trials of both vessels.
The fuel costs per trip (F) and the crewwages per trip (C
w
) were
obtained according to
F = mp
f
[(q
t
T
t
+q
h
T
h
+q
s
T
s
)n +q
n
T
n
+q
p
T
p
], (4)
and
C
w
= p R, (5)
where m is the margin for lubricating oil costs, T
n
is the total time
spent in free navigation per trip, and p is the crews (xed) percent-
age of the total catch value.
The values for T
n
and T
t
were calculated according to the fol-
lowing equations, where D is the total distance covered per trip in
free navigation, V is the free navigation speed and T
T
(tr) is the total
trawling duration per trip:
T
n
=
D
V
, (6)
T
T
(tr) = T T
n
n (T
h
+T
s
), (7)
and
T
t
=
T
T
(tr)
n
. (8)
The objective was to maximize the NCF through the best com-
bination of the navigation and trawling speeds, in order to have
comparable results for both trawl versions. The xed costs (K) were
not considered since they were assumed constant throughout the
analysis.
3. Results
The rst set of experiments estimated vessel performance dur-
ing free navigation. Values obtained for V, q and T are presented
in Table 3 for the original working conditions (denoted by A) and
for the estimated critical speed (the speed beyond which the fuel
rate increases sharply; denoted by B). A reduction in the navigation
speed alone leads to a decrease in fuel rate of up to 26% for this
phase.
Table 4
Results obtained in full-scale trials for the J
1
and J
2
trawls
Speed (kn) VO (m) WS (m) WS/VO Mouth area (m
2
)
Full scale J
1
J
2
J
1
J
2
J
1
J
2
J
1
J
2
3.5 2.7 2.8 16.7 14.7 6.2 5.3 45.1 41.2
4.0 2.5 2.6 16.0 14.8 6.4 5.7 40.0 38.5
4.5 2.3 2.6 15.8 14.6 6.9 5.6 36.3 38.0
5.0 2.2 2.6 15.8 14.4 7.2 5.5 34.8 37.4
VO: vertical opening (m); WS: wingend spread (m).
Table 5
Vessel data obtained from trawling experiments with the old and modied trawls
at the commercial average speed
Vessel Trawling
speed (kn)
Exhaust temperature (

C) Fuel rate (l/h) %

J
1
trawl J
2
trawl J
1
trawl J
2
trawl
T. Aveiro 3.7 367 315 78 64 18
J. Macedo 4.3 390 365 120 104 13
Table 4 presents the results from full-scale trials for both the
J
1
and J
2
trawls. The best results were achieved with a regulatory
chain1.5mlong, resulting inhigher vertical openings (maximumof
2.8mat 3.5kn). Wingend spread varied only slightly (between 14.4
and 14.8m) over the experimental speed range (3.55.0kn) while
otterboard spread remained constant (between70 and 71m). Com-
paring these results with those from the rst experiments at sea
(Table 4), we note that the wingend spread of the newgear is lower
while the vertical opening is higher, especially for higher trawling
speeds. This potentially favours the capture of species that swim
higher in the water column. Gear resistance measurements are not
available fromfull-scale trials; however, tension values obtained at
the ume tank indicate a reduction of approximately 15% in trawl
resistance (within the range of commercial trawl speeds) when the
new trawl was tested (Parente, unpublished data). Overall reduc-
tions in fuel consumption of 18 and 13% were obtained using the
new trawls for the Tricana de Aveiro and Joao Macedo, respectively
(Table 5). These results hold at the towing speeds usually adopted
by the skippers (3.7 and 4.3kn, respectively).
The NCF was determinedbasedonthe meanvalue of shdensity
per unit volume (
f
) estimated with data fromthe second commer-
cial sea trial (Table 6). Both trawls were assumed to sh under the
same conditions, and the value of
f
was assumed constant in order
to facilitate the comparison of economical results. A set of param-
eters (also assumed to be constant) characterizing the activity of
each vessel was obtained from the commercial sea trial (Table 6).
The values A, q
t
and q
n
at different speeds, along with the above-
mentioned parameters, were entered into equations (2) through
(8) in order to estimate the values of R, F, and C
w
. Finally, the cor-
responding NCF values were determined. Figs. 3 and 4 display the
trends in the NCF as a function of the trawling speed (V
t
) for a range
of navigation speeds (V) within the limits specied in Table 6 for
each vessel and trawl version.
Table 6
Characteristic parameters and speed variation for NCF determination
Parameters Tricana de Aveiro (J
2
trawl) Joao Macedo (J
2
trawl)
Used for
f
determination
C (kg) 253.8 158.2
Vt (kn) 3.7 4.3
Tt (h) 2.964 3.516
A (m
2
) 39.0 38.0
Characterizing each vessel trip
D (n.mi.) 71 56
T (h) 28.7 25.9
n 5 5
T
h
(h) 0.17 0.17
Ts (h) 0.15 0.17
Tp (h) 1.32 1.23

f
(kg/m
3
) 3110
5
1510
5
q
h
(l/h) 50 80
qs (l/h) 60 87
qp (l/h) 80 114
p (D /kg) 359 330
p
f
(D /kg) 30 30
Speed variation
V (kn) 8.410.0 8.19.7
Vt (kn) 3.44.6 3.74.5
J. Parente et al. / Fisheries Research 93 (2008) 117124 123
Fig. 3. Net cash ow (NCF) for J
1
and J
2
trawls as a function of the trawling (Vt) and
navigation (V) speeds for the ranges specied in Table 6. Vessel: Tricana de Aveiro.
Fig. 4. Net cash ow (NCF) for J
1
and J
2
trawls as a function of the trawling (Vt) and
navigation (V) speeds for the ranges specied in Table 6. Vessel: Joao Macedo.
3.1. FV Tricana de Aveiro
For a navigation speed of 10.0kn, the NCF estimates (Fig. 3) are
higher for the J
1
trawl at lower trawling speeds, witha highest value
found at 3.7kn (D 1604). This gure is similar for both trawl ver-
sions at 4.1kn, substantiallyincreasingfor thenewJ
2
trawl at higher
speeds (where it decreases for the oldJ
1
trawl), andreaching a max-
imumat 4.6kn(D 1769). Accordingtotheseresults, withbothtrawls
workingat their best operatingconditions, a10%increaseintheNCF
is obtained with the new J
2
trawl (Table 7), despite the increase in
fuel costs resulting fromthe adoption of a higher (+0.9kn) trawling
speed.
Table 7
Determination of NCF, fuel costs and percent variation
Tricana de Aveiro Joao Macedo
J
1
trawl J
2
trawl % J
1
trawl J
2
trawl %
V (kn) 10.0 10.0 9.7 9.7
Vt (kn) 3.7 4.6 4.3 4.5
F (D ) 366 416 +14 482 447 7
NCF (D ) 1604 1769 +10 383 487 +27
3.2. FV Joao Macedo
Similarly, for a navigation speed of 9.7kn, the NCF values are
higher for the old J
1
trawl at lower trawling speeds. The best results
arefoundat 3.7kn(D 433). TheNCFis about thesamefor bothtrawls
at a speed of 4.0kn, increasing for the newJ
2
trawl at higher speeds
(where it decreases for the oldJ
1
trawl), andreachinga maximumat
4.5kn (D 487; Fig. 4). The best operating conditions with the new
J
2
trawl are attained with a slight increase in the trawling speed
relative to the original speed adopted by the skipper for the older
trawl, leading to a 27% higher NCF (Table 7).
4. Discussion
This study demonstrated that signicant improvement in fuel
consumption and net cash ow can be obtained in the short-term
for two Portuguese coastal sh trawlers. This benet can also be
obtained without the need for major changes in overall vessel tech-
nology. Fuel savings of up to 26% were obtained by bringing the
navigation speed close to the critical speed. However, the latter
gure pertains to the navigation phase alone, and data from the
commercial sea trials showed that the time spent at this phase is
low when compared to trawling. Even though the duration of the
navigation phase may vary substantially, since it depends heavily
on the strategy adopted by the skipper (such as the distance from
the coast and time of navigation among shing grounds, as dic-
tated by the abundance of target species), it averages only 24% of
the whole shing trip. As such, the percentage of fuel consumed in
navigationwill always be substantiallylower comparedtotrawling.
The trawling phase therefore emerges as the more important
phase for fuel reduction efforts. Simple changes at the trawl level
(such as steeper cuttings in the wings and bellies, and mesh size
increases in the respective net sections) demonstrated fuel reduc-
tions of up to 18%. Overall, simulations carried out to estimate the
operational conditions that maximized the net cash ow showed
that the NCF could increase up to 27%, with signicant dependence
on the specic vessel.
Strong differences were observed in the NCF trends between J
1
and J
2
trawls. This can be explained by the corresponding differ-
ences in mouth area and net resistance, which in turn affect the
total catch per haul and the fuel cost per trip. The J
2
trawl was more
efcient at higher trawl speeds, while the J
1
trawl showed better
performance than the J
2
trawl at lower trawl speeds. In fact, the
J
1
trawl mouth area decreased substantially with increasing speed,
leading to reduced catches, while for J
2
this parameter remained
approximately constant within the range of commercial trawling
speeds. On the other hand, the lower net resistance associated with
the use of the J
2
trawl was the likely cause of the lower fuel con-
sumptions, thus contributing to the increase in the NCF.
The efciency gains in gear drag resulting from the introduc-
tion of technical alterations to the trawls allowed an increase in
trawling speed and therefore in ground coverage. This increased
the shing yield at the expenses of extra fuel consumption. This
trade-off proved to be the best option to maximize the NCF as, in
both cases, the maximum NCF was achieved for trawling speeds
higher than those originally adopted. Also, the potential savings
frombringing the navigationspeedclose to the critical speed were
overshadowed by the advantage of navigating at a higher speed,
2
thus freeing more time for trawling and therefore increasing catch
yields.
2
However, it can be argued that the differences in the NCF (due to the differ-
ence between the critical speed and the navigation speed adopted by both vessels)
is small. This would not justify a higher navigation speed since it might increase
maintenance of the engine due from the higher loading.
124 J. Parente et al. / Fisheries Research 93 (2008) 117124
Table 8
Percent catch, revenues, and CPUE for J
2
trawl: vessels Tricana de Aveiro and Joao
Macedo
Vessel Species Catch
(%)
CPUE
(kg/h)
Revenues (%)
T. Aveiro
Pouting 37 31.72 Pouting 28
European hake 19 16.27 European hake 24
Horse mackerel 11 9.31 Octopus 10
Octopus 7 5.80 Horse mackerel 7
Little sole 5 4.12 Skate 4
Large sc. gurnard 4 3.10 Common sole 4
Common squid 1 1.01 Little sole 2
Dogsh 1 0.61 Common squid 2
Total catch 85.64
J. Macedo
Pouting 3 1.25 Pouting 2
European hake 28 12.51 European hake 28
Horse mackerel 16 7.39 Octopus 10
Octopus 11 4.78 Horse mackerel 7
Little sole 5 2.10 Skate 1
Large sc. gurnard 8 3.47 Common sole 4
Common squid 9 4.04 Little sole 4
Dogsh 8 3.81 Common squid 24
Total catch 44.99
At about 4.5kn, the optimized trawl presented an overall mouth
area only slightly higher than the original one, but favoured the
vertical opening (+13%) over the horizontal opening (7.5%). These
alterations to trawl geometry may be advantageous at high tow-
ing speeds since it increases the trawl efciency towards small
pelagic, fast-swimming species, while still allowing for simultane-
ous capture of a number of benthic and demersal species. This is
evidenced when comparing CPUE results in Tables 2 and 8. Also,
the overall CPUE was higher for the new trawl in both vessels. The
new trawl was maintained by both vessels after the conclusion of
the project, which is a strong indicator of the skippers acceptance
of our modications. Unfortunately, there was no possibility for
a follow-up assessment of the skippers adherence to the vessel-
operating conditions necessary to achieve the expected reductions
in fuel consumption.
At the time of the reported experiments, fuel consumption
issues were not so strongly felt as today. This has since changed
due to the continuous increase in fuel prices. There is currently
a growing awareness among the main stakeholders of the need
to ensure economically balanced shing companies, as well as a
growing awareness from the public for greener shing activities.
The latter should be perceived not only in terms of stock sustain-
ability, reduction of by-catches and discards, and seaoor impact
of gears, but also in terms of the broader perspective of energy
efciency and vessel emissions. In other words, the environmental
approach should concern the entire ecosystem, rather than just the
marine ecosystem. Consequently, the time is ripe for the adoption
of short-term, easily implemented, effective methodologies suchas
thosereportedinthis study. Theseshouldbefurther complemented
with the use of high strength synthetic bres and reduced-drag
otterboards, whilealsocontinuingresearchonfuel technology(bio-
diesel and bio-lubricants) and higher efciency engines.
Acknowledgements
The authors are most grateful to Jean-Claude Brabant and the
staff of the ume tank at IFREMER/Centre de Boulogne-sur-Mer for
their contribution to the modelling and testing of the trawl gears.
We also thank Peter Stewart, the referees and the editor, whose
comments greatly improved this manuscript. The work was par-
tially nanced by the European Union under EU project TE.2.408:
Fuel Saving in Portuguese Trawlers.
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