6.1 Surface Gill Net
This type of gill net captures the species that swim or live near the sea surface and are attracted by lights during night time. It also catches fish by driving the school toward a waiting net using a scareline. Surface gill nets are distributed in specific fishing grounds where pelagic fish are abundant.
Some of the common surface gill nets are used to catch anchovy, mackerel, sardine and garfish. The utilization of the gill net depends on the peak season of the species, and where operational techniques vary from each other. Anchovy gill nets are used during night time when the species is easily attracted by light.
The netting is made of Nylon multifilament 210d/2 with a 14.5 mm mesh size. While the petromax light is on, the net is lowered under the banca. The lights is then transferred from one side to the other of the banca, allowing the anchovies to be gilled by the net. The sardine/mackerel gill nets have the same operation, but bigger mesh size of 30 mm and 42 mm are used.
The garfish surface gill net is also provided with a scareline to drive the fish towards the net where it is gilled in the process. The net is made of Nylon monofilament of 0.4 mm diameter with mesh sizes ranging from 40 mm to 45 mm The net is 3 m deep with a low hanging rate of 35%. The scareline is 400 m long, made of PE dia. 5 mm with plastic strips. The net is anchored first before the scareline is released into a semicircle and pulled towards the net. Another technique is the use of two fishermen who pull the scareline and guide the scared fish towards the net. Both operations, however, depend on the number of available fishermen.
The behavior of flying fish in swimming near, or flying above, the sea surface led to the introduction of the flying fish surface gill net. The net is made of Nylon monofilament of 0.2 mm diameter with a mesh size of 30 mm It is set in an area where flying are abundant. It is particularly successful in Zambales and Bohol waters.
