Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) - Kom Fyke Mokbaai

The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) started kom fishing near Texel in the Netherlands in 1959. The main benefits were the insight in the occurrence and the abundance of the various species, the collection of undamaged live fish for experiments at both the Zoological Station and the various universities and the provision of food for the experiments with seals at the Texels Museum (nowadays Ecomare). From 1960 onwards, kom fyke fishing has been continued without any changes in methodology. During the period 1960 – 1974 fishing occurred with different types of nets at various locations. From 1974 onwards fishing was restricted to one kom-fyke in the Mokbaai during the period March-October. From the start, all individuals were identified and counted and from 1971 onwards, in addition all individuals were measured once every two weeks and from the mid 70-ties all individuals caught were counted and measured on a daily basis.