Seiners

Seiners are fishing vessels which use surrounding and seine nets. Seiners can be contrasted with trawlers. Both these vessels use nets, but a trawler tows the net through the water, whereas a seiner usually surrounds the fish with the net. This is a large group ranging from open boats as small as 10 metres in length, to ocean going vessels. There are also specialised gears that can target demersal species.

Modern Tuna Purseiner – Tuna Purseine Fishing Vessel

Modern Seiners

1. Purse seiners

Are very effective at targeting aggregating  pelagic species near the surface. The seiner circles the shoal with a deep curtain of netting, possibly using bow thrusters for better manoeuvrability. Then the bottom of the net is pursed (closed) underneath the fish shoal by hauling a wire running from the vessel through rings along the bottom of the net and then back to the vessel. The most important part of the fishing operation is searching for the fish shoals and assessing their size and direction of movement. Sophisticated electronics, such as echosounders, sonar, and track plotters, (more…)