FS 316 - UNIT II

KALAIARASAN
MUTHUPANDI

TRAWL NET
Trawl Net
 Trawling is probably the most versatile fishing
technique.
 It can be operated at the surface, mid water or on
the bottom.
 Trawlers range from rowing and sailing boats to the
largest and most powerful fishing vessels that exist.
 It can be done with one boat or with two boats.
 One trawler may tow one or two and even more
nets.
 The trawls are towed through the water and manner
of capture is by filtering the passive prey by the
actively moved gear.
Components of a trawl
 Trawl is a conical shaped net made of two panels.
 The lower panel consists of the codend, the belly and two
lower wings and the upper panel consists of codend, throat,
belly, square and the two wings.
 The upper panel is attached to the head line with the square
and the wings and the lower panel is attached to the fishing
line with the belly and the wings.
 A ground rope is tied on below the fishing line in order to
protect the netting from rubbing against the bottom.
 The horizontal spread of the mouth is achieved by means of
otter boards and the vertical spread by means of floats and
sinkers.
 The otter board may be connected directly to the wings or
separated from them by a length of wire known as ground
cable or sweep line.
 The sweep lines are connected to the otter board by a back
strap and to the net by a bridle or dan leno.
 For towing trawls, steel wire ropes are used called as wraps.
Classification of trawl net
 There are seven distinct types of trawls, based on their fabrication, fish catching
mechanism or similar other features. These are:
According to the mouth opening device
 Beam trawl: The net mouth is held open by a beam
 Otter trawl: The net mouth is kept open horizontally by otter boards
 Bull trawl: The net mouth is kept open by two boats pulling apart, without the
use of either the otter boards or beams
According to the depth of operation
 Bottom trawl: Trawl net operated or dragged over the bottom
 Midwater trawl: Trawl operated anywhere in the column or subsurface waters
According to construction
 Two-seam trawl: Consisting of two panels, an upper and a lower joined laterally
 Four-seam trawl: In addition to above, there are two sides panels in four-seam
trawl.
 Six-seam trawl: It consists of six panels.
 Eight-seam trawl: It consists of eight panels
According to the number of trawls operated from a boat
 Single rig: Single trawl net operated from a boat.
 Double rig: Two trawl nets operated from a boat
 Multi-rig: More than two trawls are operated simultaneously from a single boat
According to the catch in the trawl
 Shrimp trawl: Trawl used for catching shrimps.
 Fish trawl: Trawl used for catching fish.
 Cephalopod trawl: Trawl used for catching squid, cuttlefish
and octopus
 Krill trawl: Trawl used for catching krill
According to the attachment of otter boards to the net
 Hoover rig trawl: Trawl in which otter boards are directly
connected to the wings of the net.
 Vigneron Dahl trawl: Trawl in which otter boards are
attached at some distance from the wings by means of
Vigneron Dahl bridles.
According to the mode of operation
 Side trawl: Trawl net operated from the sides of a trawler.
 Stern trawl: Trawl net operated from the stern of a trawler.
According to construction
 Two seam trawl: In this the body of the net has only two panels
i.e. the upper belly and the lower belly and these two are
seamed together laterally. The upper part invariably includes
overhang or square and hence the two seam nets are always
overhang nets. Cross section of the net is elliptical in shape and
since the vertical opening is comparatively less, these nets are
mainly operated for shrimps. Two seam nets are generally
operated from larger boats.
 Four seam trawl: These nets are having four panels including
upper, lower and side panels. Four seam nets are with or
without overhang. Cross section of the net is rectangular in
shape and hence the vertical opening of the trawl may be
influenced by the width of the side panels.
 Six seam trawl: These nets are made of six panels including
upper, lower and two side panels. Cross section of the net
generally acquires oval shape. The six and eight seam nets
are designed to have more vertical opening and hence
suitable for catching fishes. Demersal trawl with more
number of panels such as eight-seam are also in use in
commercial fisheries.
Parts of Trawl net:
 Wing
 Bosum
 Jibs
 Quarters
 Side panels
 Bellies
 Throat
 Codend
 Flapper
 Apron
 Head rope
 Foot rope
 Bolch line
 Belly line
 Cod line
 Pork line
Wings - is the forward extension of webbing on either
side forming major part of trawl mouth for guiding the
fish towards the bag of the net. They are in pairs, one
on either side. The head rope is attached from one top
wing and across the centre part of the square and along
the opposite top wing to the end. Foot rope is rigged to
the wing in the same manner.
Square - is the front portion of the upper section of a
trawl, which is fitted between the body and the two
upper wings so that it is partially overhangs, the lower
parts of the net. It is the cover, which prevent the fish
from escaping the path of the trawl by swimming
upward
Bosum - is the centre portion of trawl between the
wings on upper and lower sections.
Jibs - are triangular pieces of webbing attached
on either side of upper and lower bellies at their
junction with wings to present a smooth shaping to
the mouth of the net. These are made in pairs, one
on each side.
Quarters – are two junctions where the top wings
join the square.
Flapper - is small trapezoidal piece of netting whose
wide front edge is laced in the fore-part of the codend to
the upper panel, while the short rear edge remains free
and forms the mouth of the codend. It acts as a safety
device to prevent the escape of fish from the codend.
Apron - Otherwise known as “Hula skirt” or Chafing
gear” is the thick piece of netting attached around the
codend for protection.
Head rope - Rope line forming the upper lip of the
trawl to which the upper edge of the net is finally
attached.
Foot rope - Rope line forming the lower lip of the trawl
which the lower edge of the net is finally attached.
Bolch line - is the thin rope to which the webbing is
initially hung, prior to the rigging of the net to the HR
and FR.
Belly line - is the strengthening ropes seized along the
joining where the upper and lower periphery of the
codend are laced together.
Cod line - A rope of high breaking strength threaded
through the meshes of the lower periphery of the
codend so as to close the cod end.
Pork line - A light fibre line attached between the
hauling leg and the head line, in such a way that the
hauling leg is easily retrievable when the trawl is on
the surface
Design considerations of trawl net
 The trawl design should be made in such a way that it
offers minimum resistance when dragged in water.
While making the design, behavior of fish to be
caught, technical characteristics of vessel, condition
of fishing ground, etc. should be considered.
 The size of trawl depends on the towing speed of the
boat, higher the speed, smaller the size of net. In turn,
the towing speed should be proportional to the
swimming speed of fish.
 Miyamoto (1959) established the relation between
horse power of the engine and size of the trawl net by
an empirical method on the basis of data collected
from the commercial fisheries of India and Japan. The
formula is as follows:
 H=
Where H = Length of the head rope in feet
P = B.H.P. of the engine
 The size of trawl net is usually determined by the
head rope length. The length of a trawl net is 1.1-1.5
times the head rope length.
 Nair and George (1964) established the relationship
between horse power and net, size of net and the
proportional relationship of different parts of trawl
with the size of trawl. Nair (1969) gave the general
design principles of four seam trawl net on the basis
of studies made by Miyamoto.
 The length of head rope arrived at by using the
Miyamoto’s formula is distributed along various
parts of trawl as follows:
H/5 = Bosum
2H/5 = Jibs
 The belly being the largest section of a trawl webbing, the length of its upper
edge ‘L’ is taken as the unit length which is calculated as:
L=

Where L = Stretched length of upper edge of belly

S = Hanging coefficient at bosum
The dimensions of other parts of the trawl in relation to L are:

 Length of webbing for bosum =

 Height of webbing for jibs =

 Width of webbing for jibs =

 Depth of webbing for belly =

 Width of lower part of belly =

 Length of cod end = 0.35 L to 0.45 L
 Length of side piece = L/3 + 3L/4
 Width of side piece = 4+0.084 L
Deck layout of a trawler
(a) Side trawling : The working deck is forward with the
wheel house aft and engine room below. Forward of the
wheel house is the winch. Mast is sited at the forward end of
the working deck.
(b) Stern trawling: The working deck is aft with the wheel
house and living accommodation forward. The winch is sited
abaft the deck house.
Beam trawling
 In beam trawls, the horizontal spread of the net is attained
by means of beams of 10 -50 ft. and the net is held above
the sea bed by means of two metal shoes.
 Beam trawls are the simplest type of modern bottom trawls
and are the forerunner of all trawl gear design.
 Modern beam trawling is done according to the double rig
system i.e. one beam trawl on each side of the vessel.
Otter board trawling
 In this method the horizontal opening of the net is obtained
by means of otter boards.
 The vertical opening is achieved by attaching floats to the
upper line and sinkers to the ground rope.
Pair trawling
 In pair trawling, the trawl net is kept
open horizontally by means of two
equal vessels towing the net.
 Since double towing power is
available, the net can be made
substantially large so that the area of
operation is increased and the yields
can be expected to be larger.
 However, pair trawling is not
possible under certain weather
conditions when single vessel
trawling is possible.
Outrigger trawling
 In this type of trawling two trawls are operated from a
single vessel using outriggers.
 The most common outrigger otter trawling technique
is the Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawling.
 The outrigger booms of about 10m. length are stowed
in vertical position along the single mast.
 For fishing they are lowered into more or less
horizontal position.
 The single warp for each net runs from the winch
through a towing block at the tip of the booms.
Bottom trawling
 The bottom trawls are dragged along the sea bed to catch on or
near the bottom.
 It can be either side trawling or stern trawling based on which the
deck lay out of the vessels is decided.
 Pair trawling can also be practiced with a bottom trawl though it is
more common in midwater trawling.
Midwater trawling
 These are used to catch pelagic species of fish.
 In midwater trawling much of the time is spent hunting for fish in
schools and hence it requires use of various electronic aids to find
the fish, to set the net at the correct depth, to manoeuvre the vessel
etc.
 Both single vessel and pair trawling are importance in midwater.
Operation of trawl gear
 The speed at which bottom trawl is operated ranges
from 2 – 3 knots and in the case of midwater trawls,
it is higher say 5 – 6 knots.
 The layout of the vessel, deck equipment’s required,
the design and construction of the gear etc. are made
to suit the type of trawling operation carried out.
 The operational details can be given under 2 heads –
setting the gear and hauling the gear.
 While setting the gear, always the codend is set first.
The ground cables are paid out, otter boards released
into the water followed by the paying out of the
required length of wraps. After setting the gear, it is
towed through the water.
 At the commencement of hauling,
both the warps are hauled first by
means of winch, then the otter
boards are hooked on to the
gallows by means of dog chains.
 The pennant wire helps in hauling
the rest of the gear. The hauling if
the ground cable continues till the
wings reach the gallows.
 At this point, the winch brakes are
applied and hauling is stopped.
 Hauling of the wings and the
codend starts by the use of quarter
ropes and the bull ropes.
 In the case of midwater trawling,
setting, hauling and general net
handling operation is similar to
what is described above for bottom
trawling.
 However, when setting and hauling
the transducer cable must be run
out and hauled evenly with the
warps and bridles.
PURSE SEINE
PURSE SEINE

❖ Purse seining is one of the most efficient and

advanced fishing methods.
❖ It is aimed mainly at catching dense, mobile shoals of
pelagic fish
❖ The shoals of fish are surrounded and impounded by
means of large surrounding net.
❖ In India only after 1977 purse seines were introduced

❖ Species caught by purse seine are

anchovies,tunas,mackerel and sardines in the south
west coast.
PARTS OF PURSE
SEINE
 Purse seine is an encircling type of fishing gear
suitable to capture shoal forming fishes.
 A long wall of webbing mounted to head and foot
rope enable the purse seine to surround a moving
fish shoal. As in trawl net, there is no prominent
collection bag in the purse seine.
 The characteristic feature of this net is the pursing
while pulling a line called purse line, which is
threated through rings attached along the bottom
of the net.
 The length of a purse seine can be about 15
times of the purse seiner and the appropriate
depth of the net would be 10% of its length.
 PARTS
 Main body
 shoulder
 Bunt
 Wing
 Top selvedge
 Bottom selvedge
 Choke
 Head rope
 Float line
 Floats
 Bolch line
 Foot rope
 Lead line
 Lead sinkers
 Ring bridle
 Purse ring
 Purse line
 Breast rope line
 Breast purse line
 Breast ring
 Haul in bridle
Through there are many important parts in seine, all these parts can be classified under three broad sections
namely, main body, wing and bunt.
Main Body –
 Main body covers the major portion of the purse seine and
lies in between the wing and the bunt.
Bunt is made up of webbing with uniform mesh size.
 As the webbing of this portion is very long and broad in
dimension, it is not possible make this portion with single
piece of netting.
 Therefore, netting panels of standard dimensions are
joined to gather to form the main body of the purse seine.
 Main part of the net made of uniform mesh size. The mesh
size depends on the target species and should be fixed in
such a way that it does not facilitate gilling.
Shoulder - Shoulder refers to the portion of the net between
the bunt and main webbing
Bunt - It is a portion of the purse seine where the
catch accumulates while hauling.
It is a small portion of the net normally located at
one end of the net or at the center.
This portion is made up of only with few panels say
one or two panels, and is shorter than the other
panels, however is made up of thicker twine.
This portion is mainly made if thicker twine and
smaller mesh than the main body.
Wing - It is the end portion of the purse seine,
which is shot last and hauled up first.
Slevedges - Slevedges are used both top and bottom
portions of the purse seine. Slevedge prevents the
main body from undue strain during the operation of
the net.
Float lines:
 Floats are threaded to the float lines and to which the
netting is hung directly.
 Single rope float line is disadvantageous due to
distortion of the meshes of the guarding strip which
occurs around the floats if the hanging is tight and
with loose hanging the distortion is less, but spaces
are created between the float line and the netting
where small fish may escape or large fish or
porpoises may get jammed during hauling.
 It is advisable to have float lines made up of two or
more ropes.
Floatline / Corkline
Floats / corks

Purse line
Leadline Purse ring
Lead lines:
 Lead lines as a rule are made of ropes of the same size
as that of the float lines.
 Single rope lead line are used more often than that of
single rope float lines.
 It could be mainly due to the size of the sinkers which
are smaller than the size of the floats and hanging
netting directly on the lead line does not cause problems.
 Chain lead lines and lead lines without sinkers are also
used.
Gavels and other vertical ropes:
Gavels (breast lines) are made of similar ropes to the
lead lines or float lines. Their length depends on the net.
Breast line - This is the float line carried
beyond the upper corner of the net. It also
extends down to the end of webbing at
the lower corner of the net. Frequently
back along the lead line.
Lead line - It is the line with lead sinkers
and its length is equal to head or 10%
longer than the head rope.
Bridles - Bridles are of two types, they are
(i) haul-in bridle and (ii) ring bridle
Haul-in bridles: Pairs of ropes attached to the
head rope and foot rope of the and wing ends
which are joined together to form a single line.
This line is connected to the skiff boat.
Ring bridle: This is a short piece of rope
connecting each purse ring with the foot rope.
Two bridles may also be used to connect a purse
ring with the ring. In such case, the two bridle
lines form triangle whose apex angle should be
less than 60o to enable easy and effective
pursing.
Purse line - It is the line passing through the purse rings,
hauling of which results in the closure of bottom of the purse
seine. It is generally 1.1 to 1.75 times the length of lead line.
This line should have good resistance to abrasion.
Purse rings - Purse
rings are important
component of purse
seine gear.
These rings attached to
the foot rope at equal
intervals according to
the length of the net.
These rings come closer
and close the bottom of
the net while pulling the
purse line.
CLASSIFICATION OF PURSE SEINES
Purse seines

Based on scale Based on method Based on number Based on

of operations of operation of vessels used target
species

1. Small 1.Tuna
scale/mini 1.Surface 2.Anchovy
purse seine 1.One boat
2.Sinking purse seine 3.Sardiine
2. Medium
scale purse 2.Two boat 4.Mackeral
seine purse seine
5.Herring
3. Large 6.Capelin
scale purse
seine 7.Cod
 DESIGN
Before designing a purse seine gear, the following
factors will have to be taken into consideration:
 The area to be fished
 The size of the vessel
 The biological characteristics of the target species
(such as shoal size, swimming speed, swimming
layer, size composition and behaviour of fish during
approach of the craft and during surrounding, and
pursing of the gear).
 Determination of length, depth and shape of
the net; depending on the target species.
 Selection of materials
 Mesh size and twine thickness for the bunt
and the body netting, hanging coefficient, and
determination of weight and number of sinkers
and floats required for the net.
 THE SIZE OF PURSE SEINE
 The webbing surrounded by selvedges on all its four
sides is of uniform mesh size depending on the type of
fishery.
 It is formed by lacing a number of vertical pieces of
webbing one after another. The depth of which increases
systematically from both wing ends and reaches at the
maximum at the central strips.
 The mesh sizes are usually the same throughout but the
twine size will be generally thicker at the bunt end and
the wing region.
A DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION
OF PURSE SEINING
 THE LENGTH AND DEPTH
 It is easiest for operation when the depth is between 10-15 %
of the length. However, in certain cases the depth goes upto
30 – 50 % of the length for inshore purse seines for
sardines, anchovies, pilchard where the shoal depth will be
more. On the contrary deep sea purse seines for fast
swimming fishes like tuna, skipjack etc long and relatively
shallow seine is most suitable.
 A rough rule of thumb is that depth of the purse seine is one-
tenth of the float line. Most purse seines are 1/7-10 depth
length ratio or L = 10H. varies to ¼ to 1/3 for deep
swimming and quick diving shoals.
 The lead line is usually shorter than the float line by 5 to 12
percent.
Total length of net = count of handholds x distance between handholds

Handholds
MESH SIZE
 The mesh size of purse seines must be small
enough not to gill the fish in any part of the seine.
 A common practice is to select a mesh size
considerably smaller in the bunt, but a larger
mesh is enough in the other parts of the seine.
FRIDMAN FORMULA
 OM = 2/3 x L/K (Fridman formula)
Where
 OM = mesh opening (mm) in the bunt

 L = length (mm) of target fish

 K = Coefficient, a function of the target species

 K = 5 for fish that are long and narrow

 K = 3.5 for average shaped fish

 K = 2.5 for flat, deep bodied or wide fish

 MESH SIZE OF DIFFERENT PARTS WITH
RESPECT TO TARGET SPECIES
Type of Bunt Shoulder( Body Wing Top Bottom
fish (mm) mm) (mm) (mm) selvedge selvedge
(mm) (mm)

Sardine 15 15-20 20 18-20 40 60

and
mackerel

Anchovies 10 10-13 10-13 10-13 14 70

Tuna 30 40-50 40-50 40-50 50 150

TWINE SIZE
 The wing ends and the lower and upper
selvedges of the seine are subjected to the
greatest stresses. Therefore twines of greater
thickness are used in these parts.
 Minimal loads are imposed on the central
sections of the seine.
FLOATS AND SINKERS
 Excessive weights results in damage, strain on
hauling equipments and handling problem.
 The normal requirement is 0.5 top 2.0 kg.m-1 of
foot rope.
 The buoyancy requirement is 2-4 times of the
weight of the foot rope.
THE HANGING RATIO
 It is usually greater on the lead line than on the
float line.
 Hanging ratios generally range from 0.50 to
0.90, depending on the type of the net.
 The hanging ratio may also vary along the float
line or lead line, usually being lower in the bunt.
PURSE LINE
 The purse line is generally 1.1 – 1.75 times the length of
the head line, usually about 1.5 time the length of the
purse seine.
 Strength (R)of the purse line should be greater than 3
times the combined weight of the netting, lead line, and
purse rings.
Purse rings
 The size and weight of purse rings depends on the size,
the size of the boat and weight of the net.
 The weight of each ring varies from 1.5 to 8 kg.

 They are made of gun metal,galvanized iron,stainless

steel.
DEPTH IN WATER
 The actual depth or height (AD) can be considered
equal to roughly 50 % of the stretched depth. (SD, or
stretched mesh size x No. of meshes) of the seine at
its extremities and 60 % near the center of the net.

 AD = SD x 0.5 = SD/2 extremities

 AD = SD x 0.6 centre of net
SINKING SPEED
 Sinking speed of a purse seine for different
seines - sinking speed has been measured in a
range from 2.4 – 16.0 m/min, with an average
of 9.0 m/min.
 SELECTION OF MATERIALS
 High breaking strength, excellent elastic properties, high
specific gravity, low resistance against current, good water
shedding capacity and type of knot.
 Netting used for purse seine should be of adequate
strength and it should not gill the fish.
 Nylon netting is commonly used and materials like
vinylidene chloride,polyvinyl alcohol,polyester and
combination of nylon and vinyl alcohol are also used.
 Knotless netting is preferred to knotted netting because the
resistance will be less than the knotted netting.
OPERATION
Purse seines can be set in one of the following four
ways.
 with a skiff

 using a buoy with or without sea anchor

 using an anchor with or without skiff
 using a tow rope
SETTING OPERATION
 The purse seine is set around a detected school of fish.
After that, the net is closed underneath the school by
hauling the purse line running through the rings (pursing).
 Hydroacoustic instruments, like sonars are important tools to
locate fish aggregations. Also common is the use of
"natural" signs of fish aggregations (often observed with
binoculars) to start with the fishing operation, like
concentration of sea birds, ruffling of the water surface and
presence of groups of dolphins.
 Artificial " Fish Aggregating Devices" (FAD's) and light
attractions are used in some fisheries to concentrate the
fish.
CHUMMING
 It is often used to slow down fast swimming fish. It enables
the aggregation of dispersed and loosely associated fish.
 At just the right moment, the tow boat is dropped over the
stern with the end of the seine tied to it. Running in
reverse, the towboat holds the end while the seiner quickly
circles the fish paying the seine overboard as she goes,
coming around to pick up the end from the tow boat again.
 The fishing operations realized by a purse seiner to catch
fish, from the beginning of the shooting of the net up to the
end of the hauling, back on board of the seine (ready for a
new shooting), are called a "set".
SURROUNDING THE FISH
 Normally the starting point of the set should
be such that at the end of the shooting the
working side of the seiner faces the wind so
that the wind pushes the vessel away from the
net .
HAULING
Purse seines are hauled manually or by using power
blocks aboard the purse seiner with a hydraulic power
block which is, on board industrial purse seiners, attached
to the end of the boom and hanging above the deck , on
medium size vessels operated at the extremity of a crane
fixed on the deck at the aft part.
 Under the power block, the net is stacked on the stern of
the boat by fishermen in such a way that it will come
smoothly off the stern at the beginning of the next set.
 As a whole, this operation will, if there is no incident,
take around one hour.
 When most of the purse seine has been
retrieved, the fishes have been gathered
within a restricted area along the portside of
the vessel.
 Then the fish are harvested from the purse
seine using a large scoop net called the
"brailer".
SHOOTING SURROUNDING
Pursing Hauling
Purse seine operation
IMPACTS
 No impact on the bottom habitat except only
when the water depth is less than the height of
the seine .
 Incidental capture of dolphins in some fishing
areas.
 To reduce by-catch of dolphins "Medina panel”
made of fine mesh webbing joined in the upper
part of purse seine net included as part of the
seine, which secure the encircled dolphins that
are released alive