--- title: Fish Could Be Evolving to Evade Capture From Trawlers, Suggests Study description: Slower fish are likely to be caught leaving faster fish to pass on their ability to the next generation canonical: https://time.com/3987025/fish-evolution-trawlers/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-06T10:17:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:57:15.702Z article:section: Science og:title: Fish Could Be Evolving to Evade Capture From Trawlers, Suggests Study og:description: Slower fish are likely to be caught leaving faster fish to pass on their ability to the next generation og:url: https://time.com/3987025/fish-evolution-trawlers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc04ec7b56d1e5619/69885e24f887dc7755e91be2/fishing-net-evolution.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Fishing nets evolution og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fish Could Be Evolving to Evade Capture From Trawlers, Suggests Study twitter:description: Slower fish are likely to be caught leaving faster fish to pass on their ability to the next generation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc04ec7b56d1e5619/69885e24f887dc7755e91be2/fishing-net-evolution.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fish Could Be Evolving to Evade Capture From Trawlers, Suggests Study by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Aug 6, 2015 10:17 AM UTC  Fishing off the coast of Smith Island, Va., in June 2015. Fishing off the coast of Smith Island, Va., in June 2015.Andrew Caballero—Reynolds—AFP/Getty Images by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Aug 6, 2015 10:17 AM UTC Fish may be evolving to evade capture from the nets on commercial fishing trawlers, according to new research. The study by the University of Glasgow has shown that fast-swimming, fitter fish are less likely to be trapped by fishing nets. Over time, this could lead to physiological changes in fish populations. “The selective removal of poor-swimming fish could alter the fundamental physical makeup of descendant populations that avoid fisheries capture, ”[ said Shaun Killen, the study’s lead researcher](http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline%5F415014%5Fen.html). By simulating trawling with schools of wild minnows, researchers could see whether individual fish were more susceptible to capture. They also measured the swimming ability, metabolic rate and indicators of physical fitness in 43 fish. The researchers hope to carry out a similar study on fish in the wild. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3987025/fish-evolution-trawlers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3987025/fish-evolution-trawlers/"},"headline":"Fish Could Be Evolving to Evade Capture From Trawlers, Suggests Study","datePublished":"2015-08-06T10:17:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:57:15.702Z","description":"Commercial trawling might be driving an evolutional change","url":"https://time.com/3987025/fish-evolution-trawlers/","keywords":["fish","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc04ec7b56d1e5619/69885e24f887dc7755e91be2/fishing-net-evolution.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc04ec7b56d1e5619/69885e24f887dc7755e91be2/fishing-net-evolution.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fishing nets evolution","caption":"Fishing nets evolution","creditText":"Andrew Caballero—Reynolds—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/fish/","name":"fish"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3987025/fish-evolution-trawlers/","name":"Fish Could Be Evolving to Evade Capture From Trawlers, Suggests Study"}}]}] ```