02/10/2026
The Gulf of Maine Research Institute is accepting applications to participate in a trial of the Ultra-Low-Opening Trawl (ULOT), a net developed through cooperative research with local fishermen to help reduce cod and haddock bycatch while maintaining flatfish and other target species.
With low available quota, Atlantic cod and haddock continue to create challenges for vessels trying to maximize revenue. The ULOT was designed specifically to address this issue by avoiding both cod and haddock without compromising catches of flatfish and other abundant commercial species.
If you’re interested, please complete the short survey linked below. The survey will take you directly to the application for participating in a ULOT trial:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/V5BPWRP
Additional project details are available here:
https://gmri.org/projects/reducing-cod-bycatch-with-new-trawl-nets/
With the help of local fishermen, we developed a new trawling net called the ultra-low-opening trawl (ULOT) which simultaneously avoids catching cod and haddock without compromising landings of flatfish and other abundant commercial species.
