Technical specifications and operational characteristics of disco fish trawl (128 M) nets operated off Ratnagiri, Maharashtra

Trawling is one of the popular fishing methods along the west coast of India. However, there are regional variations in trawl net design, construction and operation. The present study deals with the technical specifications and operational characteristics of fish trawl (128 m) operated along the Ratnagiri coast of Maharashtra. The material used for the fish trawl is HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) and the knot type used for construction is a single trawl knot. Blue colour netting twine material is normally used having twine diameter of 1.50 mm for construction of netting of wing and belly; while 1.0 mm twine is used for cod end. The mesh size of the cod end section was 18 mm while the upper and lower edge of cod end had 100 meshes in width and 150 meshes in depth.