Pulse trawls use electrodes towed ahead of the net to produce an electric field to shock fish off the bottom and into the net. Official UK sources confirm that the area in which pulse fishing has been given a controversial “derogation” from a ban on electric fishing since 2006 includes the Dogger Bank, the North Sea’s largest marine protected area.
The Blue Marine Foundation have filed a formal complaint to the European Commission over the fishing by electric pulse trawlers on the Dogger Bank. “There is nothing experimental about this fishery, it is a fully-fledged commercial operation and its environmental impacts while under-researched are potentially very harmful”. European Commission “trilogue” negotiations on electric fishing on the 4th October failed to reach agreement on the issue as part its review of fisheries Technical Measures.