EXPLANATORY   NOTE

            This revised volume is the completion between the first volume and the report of a reconfirmation survey on marine fishing gear and methods, conducted in August 2002.  We tried to cover the present fishing gears as much as possible and to include all the latest developed gears, important port and villages along the coast of Thailand.  Figure 1 shows the map of all the survey station 3, the name of each province, which is often also the name of the provincial capital, is underlined.

            The data were collected mostly by interviewing fishermen, with the help of questionnaire prepared in advance for each type of fishing gear, as well as by direct observation in the locations where the gears were made and used.  The background information on the current status of different fisheries was mainly base on data contained in the annual “Fishery Statistical Bulletin for the South China Sea Area”, starting from 1990, up to the most recent available one for 1997.

            In the classification of fishing gear, drawings and explanations in this volume, we have on the whole followed the system used in the “FAO Catalogue of Small-Scale Fishing Gear”.  The mode of presentation is summarized below.

                                              Illustrations     

            1. The horizontal length of surrounding nets, purse seines and gill nets is drawn according to the length of the floatline, and the vertical depth according to the fully stretched netting.  In the case of gill nets with sidelines, the depth is drawn according to their length.  The width of netting panels or sections of trawl gear is drawn according to half the stretched netting, and the depth or length according partly perspective overall sketches, with dimensions indicated where applicable.

             2. General outline drawings, such as of the rig of a complete gear, and detail drawings of components, are mostly not to scale, but the main dimensions are given.

             3. Dimensions are given only in meters (m) and millimeters (mm).  The units are not indicated but can easily be recognized, as follows: 

                Metre :           Length of footropes, headlings, floatlines etc.,
                                     used with two decimals (e.g., 5.25, 90.20).
                       
                Mellimetre:     Mesh size (stretched), diameters of ropes
                                     floats, etc.used without a point or with one
                                     decimal only (e.g., 12; 527 or 1.2; 20.5).  
           

              4. Mass and weight are indicated in the units of kilogram (kg) and gram (g).  Buoyancies of floats and breaking load of netting yarns or ropes are shown by kilogram-force (kgf) or gram-force (gf).

              5. Materials are indicated by abbreviations listed in Appendix 1.

              6. The size of netting yarns is shown in the denier system.

              7. The mesh size, given in millimeters (mm) is understood to be the distance between the centers of the two opposite knots in the same mesh when fully stretched..

              8. The number of meshes in a straight row along the edges indicates the width and length or depth of net panels or sections.

              9. The shape of a netting section is indicated by the cutting rate at its edge.  A tabulation of common cutting rates for a practical range of taper ratios is given in Appendix 2, together with a diagram of different cutting rates.

            10. The term hanging ratio (E) designates the ratio between the length of a given portion of the mounting rope and the length of the stretched netting hung on this portion of the rope.

            11. When there are two or more variants in construction of gear or manner of use, this is indicated in the title and opposite the drawings by Roman numerals (I, II, …….. ).  Where these variants refer to only one component part of gear, other possible ways of making this part are shown with the abbreviation ALT.

            12. Sequence in fishing operation is shown by sketches with circled Arabic numberals (  1, 2‚… ) which indicate the sequence of operation stages.

            13. Parts of gear drawn in detail are indicated by circled capital letters ( A  ,  B … )

.

Abbreviations and symbols used in illustrations

ALT
BAIT
BAM
BR
CEM
CLAY
COMB
COT
EG
Fe
LL
LIVE
LT
MAT
MONO
PA



=

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

Alternative
Bait
Bamboo
Brass
Cement
Baked clay
Combination rope
Cotton
Electric generator
Iron
Luring lamp
Live bait
Long-tail boat1
Material
Monofilament
Polyamide

Diameter

Upper panel

Lower panel

Side panel

Purse ring

Thickness

Approximately

Pb
PE
PES
PL
PP
PVA
RA
RUB
S
SN
SST
ST
SW
WD
WIRE
Z



Rv. 2002

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

Lead
Polyethylene
Polyester
Plastic
Polypropylene
Polyvinyl alcohol
Rattan
Rubber
S twist
Saran nylon
Stainless steel
Steel
Swivel
Wood
Steel wire rope
Z twist

Circumference

Braided

Twisted

Current

Wind

Fish

Survey in 2002

1 Boat with a long propeller shaft outside the hull
   (Source : FAO catalogue of Small-scale Fishing Gear, 1975)

 

Common cutting rates and taper ratios
Number of meshes lost (or gained)


N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

m
e
s
h
e
s

i
n

d
e
p
t
h

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

AB

1T2B

1T1B

3T2B

2T1B

5T2B

3T1B

7T2B

4T1B

9T2B

2

1N2B

AB

1T4B

1T2B

3T4B

1T1B

5T4B

3T2B

7T4B

2T1B

3

1N1B

1N4B

AB

1T6B

1T3B

1T2B

2T3B

6T6B

1T1B

7T6B

4

3N2B

1N2B

1N6B

AB

1T8B

1T4B

3T8B

1T2B

5T8B

3T4B

5

2N1B

3N4B

1N3B

1N8B

AB

1T10B

1T5B

3T10B

2T5B

1T2B

6

5N2B

1N1B

1N2B

1N4B

1N10B

AB

1B12B

1T6B

1T4B

1T3B

7

3N1B

5N4B

2N3B

3N8B

1N5B

1N12B

AB

1T14B

1T7B

3T14B

8

7N2B

3N2B

5N6B

1N2B

3N10B

1N6B

1N14B

AB

1T16B

1T8B

9

4N1B

7N4B

1N1B

5N8B

2N5B

1N4B

1N7B

1N16B

AB

1T18B

10

9N2B

2N1B

7N6B

3N4B

1N2B

1N3B

3N14B

1N8B

1N18B

AB

11

5N1B

9N4B

4N3B

7N8B

3N5B

5N12B

2N7B

3N16B

1N9B

1N20B

12

11N2B

2N2B

3N2B

1N1B

7N10B

1N2B

5N14B

1N4B

1N6B

1N10B

13

6N1B

11N4B

5N3B

9N8B

4N5B

7N12B

13N7B

5N16B

2N9B

3N20B

14

13N2B

3N1B

11N6B

5N4B

9N10B

2N3B

1N2B

3N8B

5N18B

1N5B

15

7N1B

13N4B

2N1B

11N8B

1N1B

3N4B

4N7B

7N16B

1N3B

1N4B

16

5N2B

7N2B

13N6B

3N2B

11N10B

5N6B

9N14B

1N2B

7N18B

3N10B

17

8N1B

15N4B

7N3B

13N8B

6N5B

11N12B

5N7B

9N16B

4N9B

7N10B

18

17N2B

4N1B

5N2B

7N4B

13N10B

1N1B

11N14B

5N8B

1N2B

2N5B

19

9N1B

17N4B

8N3B

15N8B

7N5B

13N12B

6N7B

11N16B

5N9B

9N20B

(Source: FAO catalogue of Small-scale Fishing Gear, 1975)





Groups of fishing gear and descriptions

1. SURROUNDING NET
                    A net roughly rectangular in shape without a distinct bag is set vertically in water; to surround the school of fish, generally of pelagic nature.  The nets are subdivided into three major types: One boat purse seine; two boat purse seine; and Surrounding net without a purse line.

2.  SEINE NET
                   
A bag shaped net with two wings, normally, the wing are larger than those of trawl nets.  The net is pulled towards a stationary boat or onto a beach.  A seine of a primitive nature sometimes does not have a bag.  However, insofar as the net is pulled towards a stationary boat or beach, it is included herein.

3.  TRAWL
               A conical bag shaped-net with two or more wings, pulled by one to two boats for a period of time, to catch mainly fish or other aquatic animals that live directly on, or stay near the sea bed.  When such a gear is used in mid-water, with the same catching mechanism, the mid-water trawl is included herein.
                The trawl is also divided into three major types: Otter trawl; Pair trawl; and Beam trawl.

4.  LIFT NET
                A sheet of net, usually square, but may sometimes be conical, is stretched either by several rods, ropes, or a frame and is set either at the bottom or in mid-water for some time; and then lifted to trap the fish lying above it.

5.  FALLING GEAR
                The gear is usually a cone shaped net or other material, which is dropped to cover aquatic animals and enclose them.  Generally hand-operated in shallow waters, but some are operated from a boat for example, the stick-held cast net.

6.  GILL NET
                A net wall, with its lower end weighted by sinkers (or heavy net, as in drift gill net) and the upper end raised by floats, is set transversely to the path of migrating fish.  Fish trying to make their way through the net wall are entangled in the mesh.  A catching mechanism which is more or less similar to the gill net, is the trammel net with three wall nets, this is also included herein.  Although in this case the migrating fish are entangled between two layers of net, and not in the mesh, and a combination of different types of nets are used.


7.  TRAP
               Gear that is set or stationed in the water for a certain period, regardless of the kind of material used for their construction. The fish are naturally confined in a collecting unit, from which escape is prevented by labyrinths and/or retarding devices, such as gorges, funnels, etc. without any active fishing operation taking place.

8.  HOOK AND LINE
               This gear generally consists of line(s) and hook(s), to which edible or artificial baits are attached to attract fish or other aquatic animals.  Unbaited hooks or jig may also be used.

9.  SCOOP NET
              A bag net with a fixed or variable opening is operated in shallow waters, or from boats.  Some large scale scoop nets are operated from a motorized boat, such as the boat push net.

10.  DRIVE-IN-NET
             A bag net with two wings, scoop net and wall with a coconut leaf fence are usually set in the water against the current.  From one to two hundred fishermen with their frightening ropes and plastic hoses which emit bubbles, drive the fish to enter the bag net and/or scoop net.  A lift net is used to catch fish which are circling the net wall.

11.  DREDGE
             An iron or net basket with a hard rectangular frame at the opening.  This gear is dragged or pushed along the sea bed, usually to collect mollusks such as mussels, oysters, scallops, clams, etc.  The shellfish are held in an attached bag or sieve which allows the water, sand or mud to run out.

12.  MISCELLANEOUS
             This group covers a great variety of other fishing gears and methods, not specified elsewhere or that are based on mixed principles.  For example hand hooks, harpoons or spears, gaff, etc.

 
   
 
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