RV Belgica 2016-21
Cruise plan
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Belgica (11BE) |
| Cruise identifier | 2016-21 |
| Cruise period | 2016-11-28 — 2016-12-09 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Zeebrugge, Belgium |
| Port of return | Zeebrugge, Belgium |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | Experimental testing of technical innovations in fishing gear, hereby focusing on a more sustainable Sea Fishery Sector. In 2011 the European Commission (COM) published its proposal for a new CFP to replace the current Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002. One of the main changes shall is to introduce a discard ban in the form of a gradual introduction of an obligation to land starting in 2014. By 2016, this should lead to an obligation to land for almost all species. Research on improving the selectivity of towed gears to both length and species composition is therefore necessary. The next few years, the time available on the research vessels will be used mainly for that purpose (mainly through TECHVIS a project funded by IWT, SDVO and the fisheries sector). Other topics that will be addressed are:
- The relationship between discards and seabird populations - The collection of biological data for commercial species in the context of NDGP (EU Data Collection Regulation). |
| Chief scientist | Bart Verschueren (Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, Ostend) |
| NPRC |  (0.40 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | English Channel North Sea |
| Specific | Belgian, UK, French waters between 50N 02W, 54N 04 50E |