The 2016 annual meeting of the ICES-FAO Working Group on Fishing Technology and Fish Behaviour (WGFTFB) was held from 25 to 29 April 2016 in Merida, Mexico. The meeting was hosted by FAO in close collaboration with the Universidad Marista de Mérida. More than 85 fishing technologists, scientists and other stakeholders, representing 23 countries from Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia, attended this meeting.

This report summarizes the three-day symposium, on “Technology Development and Sustainable Fisheries”, which was part of the 2016 annual meeting of the ICES-FAO WGFTFB. The symposium comprised six thematic sessions: (i) challenges and advantages in static fishing gears; (ii) encouraging technological change in capture fisheries; (iii) energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction in capture fisheries; (iv) technology and practice for managing bycatch and reducing discards; (v) innovative technologies for observing fish and fishing gear; and (vi) fishing technology to eliminate vaquita bycatch from fisheries in the Upper Gulf of California (UGC). A summary of the ICES topic groups, country reports and a general business session can be found in the 2016 ICES Working Group report. Session 1, on “Challenges and advantages of static fishing gears”, featured research using a variety of static gears, including set nets, cod pots, pontoon traps and whelk traps. Most presentations focused on issues related to gear selectivity. In Session 2, on “Encouraging technical change in capture fisheries”, the presentations focused on various techniques to facilitate change, including the application of organizational change management theory and principles, the application of a risk assessment matrix, sustainability assessment tools, and industry-led gear testing programmes. In Session 3, on “Energy and greenhouse gas reduction in capture fisheries”, presenters focused on techniques used to measure energy consumption and associated remedial action, including energy audits and waste heat recovery from combustion processes. Session 4, on “Technology and practice for managing bycatch and reducing discards”, included presentations of research carried out on a variety of fishing gear types. The overarching theme of this session was the challenge of excluding or avoiding bycatch species without loss of the target catch. Session 5, on “Innovative technologies for observing fish and fishing gear”, provided a snapshot of initiatives to better understand fish behaviour in relation to the use of certain fishing gears and to evaluate fishing gear performance, particularly with the aim of reducing bycatch. Several new technologies were described as having the potential to contribute significantly to bycatch reduction. Session 6, on “Fishing technology to eliminate vaquita bycatch from fisheries in the Upper Gulf of California (UGC)”, featured several presentations describing initiatives to reduce the bycatch of vaquita and other marine mammals.This symposium provided an opportunity for fishing technologists and other experts from ICES member countries to exchange knowledge and ideas with contemporaries from around the world, especially from non-member countries in South America and Asia. A priority research subject that emerged from this symposium was to further reduce bycatch without loss of target catch. Greater efforts are required to understand fish behaviour. This will assist fishing technologists to develop more effective gears and technologies to reduce bycatch. Awareness raising and capacity building on new fishing gears and technologies that reduce bycatch and lead to more efficient fishing operations was considered essential to increase uptake and compliance with new fishing gears by fishers.