Using automated video analysis to study fish escapement through escape panels in active fishing gears: Application to the effect of net colour.

The focus of this study was to compare two selective devices in a trawl by automated counting of fish escapements through each selective device (a white and black square mesh panel) based on video sequencing and an algorithm for automated object detection and tracking. The software detected a significant difference in fish escapement rate according to net color- 60% of all fish escaped through the white panel, suggesting that net color influences the escape rate of fish. The color of the selective device should therefore be investigated further with the aim of increasing selection efficiency. Further development of the software could be done to identify species and size of the fish and assess the effectiveness of a selective device by species and size.