The Working Group on Fishing Technology and Fish Behaviour (WGFTFB) discusses and re-views research and practices of fishing technology and fish behaviour in relation to commercial and survey gears, and provides guidance for management including, inter alia, the impacts of fishing on the environment. The working group is jointly supported by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which have fostered a fruitful working relationship in an international forum. WGFTFB also collaborates with the Working Group on Fisheries, Acoustics, Science and Tech-nology (WGFAST) to facilitate the interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge and to foster coop-eration.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group worked by correspondence in 2020 to produce this abbreviated collection of national reports describing activities in different countries. National reports are structured to give an overview of current and planned activities in the institutes and organizations of the county that are active in research in fishing gear and fish behaviour. They are an important tool to stimulate collaborative research by highlighting research themes and sharing of ideas that other countries might also benefit from. Current national reports cover a broad field of gear technology research, including research related to bycatch reduction of target and bycatch species (including ETP-species - endangered, threatened and protected species), minimizing the effect on the marine environment, pollution and energy efficiency.