Electric Pulse Trawl

Electric pulse trawl is a bottom-trawl variant that replaces mechanical tickler chains with electrodes delivering low-voltage pulses to startle flatfish and shrimp off the seabed, cutting drag and fuel use. Dutch sole fleets adopted it under EU research derogations from the 2000s. The EU banned pulse trawling fully from 1 July 2021 under the technical-measures Regulation (EU) 2019/1241 after a 2019 trilogue agreement, phasing out licenses and leaving only a small number of scientific-research permits. The Court of Justice of the EU upheld the ban in April 2021, dismissing the Netherlands’ challenge, so the method is now prohibited in EU waters.