Pelagic fisheries - vessel and gear design

John Willy Valdemarsen Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway

Development of various pelagic fishing methods a brief review

Gillnetting (driftnets and bottom set nets) Trolling/jiggiing (manual hauling to mechanized) Beach seining (herring in fjords) Purse seining (use of dorries via introduction of syntetic fibres, the power block and sonars to mechanized stacking of the net) Trawling (from bottom pair trawling for herring to towing nets with an entrance similar to 4 football fields (120 X 220 m)

The pelagic fishing fleet

Purser seiners (small- medium- large) Trawlers (medium large) Combined purse seiners/trawlers (large) Trolling vessels (small)

Small coastal purse seiner

Fishing for sprat in Norwegian fjords using light attraction and a hydraulic power block

Medium size coastal purse seiner

Fishing for herring, capelin and mackrel Size limit: 90 (in Norway) Triplex hauling system Crew: 6-8 > 100 vessels in Norway

Medium sized trawler

Fishing for herring, mackrel, capelin, blue whiting

Crew: 4 approx 30 vessels in Norway

Large pelagic trawler

Fishing for herring, mackrel and blue whiting

Medium size purse seiner

Combined purse seiner/trawler

Fishing herring, capelin and mackrel with purse seine and blue whiting with trawl Crew 8-10 45 vessels in Norway

Automatic trolling for mackrel

Pelagic fishing gears

Purse seine

Pelagic trawl

Pelagic Catch and Gear - Iceland

Annual Icelandic pelagic catch with purse seine and trawl
1200000

1000000

800000 Tons Purse seine 600000 Pelagic trawl ex BW Pelagic trawl (total)

400000

200000

0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Pelagic Catch and Gear - Norway

Purse seining - history

1900 Purse seining started in Europe (technology transferred from US) 1950-60 Introduction of syntetic fibre (PA) as netting material in purse seines 1960 Intoduction of the power block 1960-ties Fishing sonar developed in Norway 1980 Mechanized stacking of the net developed in Norway

Purse seine design

Basic net design: 500-1000m long 100-250 m deep PA netting material Max total weight 60 tonnes

Pelagic trawling - history

1948 Pelagic pair trawling developed in Denmark (Larsen) 1972-73 Pelagic trawling for blue whiting started by Norway 1975+ Development of rope trawls (former DDR) and large mesh trawls (France)

Key components in a pelagic trawling concept

Trawl sonar

Codend

Smaller retaining meshes

Large meshes Trawl doors

Pelagic trawl characteristics

Front part: Commonly 4 panel designs in diamond or hexagonal meshes (spliced) with 32-64 m mesh size made from various materials and twine constructions Circumference: 600 2500 m Vertical opening: 40-130 m Horizontal width: 100- 200 m Towing speed: 3,5-4,5 kn

Future challenges
Aimed fishing for target fish (species, quality and sizes) to avoid discard and unaccounted mortality of fish not taken onboard the vessel and landed Reduce fuel consumption and thus carbon foot-prints during fishing with trawls Improve fish quality during fishing