Demersal Fish

Demersal fish live on or just above the seabed, in contrast to pelagic fish of the open water column. The group covers cod, haddock, hake, flatfish, and many sharks and rays, caught mainly by bottom trawl, longline, gillnet, and Danish seine. Demersal species tend to be longer-lived and slower-growing than small pelagics, so their stocks recover more slowly from overfishing and are managed with total allowable catch, minimum mesh sizes, and closed areas. The demersal-pelagic split drives gear choice and bycatch profiles: bottom trawling for demersal stocks raises seabed-impact and discard concerns that bycatch reduction devices and selective panels aim to limit.