Electrical pulse fishing has been widely adopted by Dutch fishers as an economically viable alternative to tickler-chain trawling for common sole (Solea solea) in the North Sea. Concerns exist, however, that the use of electrical pulses may cause spinal injuries and haemorrhages, as previously shown for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). To find out whether other gadoids are similarly affected, we studied injury occurrences in whiting (Merlangius merlangus) catches on commercial vessels. To distinguish mechanically and electrically-induced injuries, we compared (1) injuries for pulse gears with electrical pulses either turned on or off and (2) injuries from pulse-trawl catches with those in tickler-chain trawling. Spinal injuries were visualised with X-radiography and internal haemorrhages with subsequent dissection. Injuries were categorised on a severity scale and their location was quantified along the anteroposterior fish axis. Major spinal injury occurrence in (1) pulses-on and pulses-off samples were lower than 1% and not significantly different between catch methods. Major spinal injury occurrence was slightly higher in (2) tickler-chain catches (2.4%) than in pulses-on samples (1.1%). Major haemorrhage occurrences were also low. The slightly higher occurrences of these haemorrhages in pulses-on samples (1.8%) compared to fish caught with tickler chains (0.3%) and their locations suggest that they may be partly related to electrical-pulse exposure. Overall, our results indicate that injuries in whiting are rare and primarily due to mechanical impact. These findings suggest that pulse trawling is unlikely to impose increased mortality on whiting populations compared to the tickler-chain technique.

电脉冲捕鱼已被荷兰渔民广泛采用，作为北海普通鳎鱼（ Solea solea ）拖网拖网的经济可行替代方案。然而，人们担心使用电脉冲可能会导致脊髓损伤和出血，正如之前对大西洋鳕鱼 ( Gadus morhua ) 所展示的那样。为了了解其他鲱鱼是否受到类似影响，我们研究了白鲑（ Merlangius merlangus) 商业船只上的渔获物。为了区分机械和电引起的伤害，我们比较了 (1) 脉冲齿轮与电脉冲打开或关闭的伤害，以及 (2) 脉冲拖网渔获物与挠性链拖网渔获物造成的伤害。脊柱损伤通过 X 射线照相和随后解剖的内部出血进行可视化。损伤按严重程度分类，其位置沿前后鱼轴量化。(1) 脉冲开启和脉冲关闭样本中主要脊髓损伤的发生率低于 1%，并且在捕获方法之间没有显着差异。(2) 搔痒链捕获 (2.4%) 的主要脊柱损伤发生率略高于脉冲样本 (1.1%)。大出血的发生率也很低。与用搔痒链捕获的鱼（0.3%）相比，脉冲样本中这些出血的发生率略高（1.8%），并且它们的位置表明它们可能部分与电脉冲暴露有关。总体而言，我们的结果表明，鳕鱼受伤很少见，主要是由于机械冲击。这些发现表明，与搔痒链技术相比，脉冲拖网不太可能增加鳕鱼种群的死亡率。