Artificial bait alternatives, mainly based on fish waste

Citation
Tryggvadóttir SV, Jónsson GP, Jónsdóttir R, Ólafsdóttir G (2002) Artificial bait alternatives, mainly based on fish waste. Project report to EU. Icelandic Fisheries Laboratories, 09-02
Abstract

This report is the first progress report from the IFL in the EU project "Artificial bait alternatives, mainly based on fish waste" (Q5CR-2000- 70427). The objective of the project is to develop an artificial bait, mainly for cod, haddock and hake, for the long-lining deep-sea fishing fleet. Spain and Portugal are participating in the project. The aim is that the bait will be made from fish waste from the fish processing plants and/or pelagic fish which is mainly utilized in fish meal production. In comparison with traditional bait, the developed bait will have a better or similar effectiveness, should be competitive in price and be more suitable for mechanised longlining. By choosing the bait material it will be possible to improve selectivity for fishing.

In the project a method has been developed and equipment built to produce artificial bait from frozen material. It has been noticed that mincing, stirring and double freezing spoils the freshness characteristics of the bait which the fish is attracted to. On the other hand it has worked well to grate frozen fish-blocks of raw material like capelin, sand eel, squid and fish waste and put the grated fish material into small bags. It is essential that the raw material is very fresh when it is frozen. The bags are made from fibre that seem to be able to control the outflow and timing of the effluent from the bags. When the fibre material in the bags gets wet it softens and the texture feels like fish skin, which is a very positive property for a bait. The bait bags have been tried in real situations and are promising.