Trawl Designs Used in Small-scale Mechanised Fisheries Sector of Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

Design details of the commercial trawls operated along Andhra Pradesh coast during 2006-2008 are presented. The trawls in Andhra Pradesh are broadly classified into three types based on the target groups, viz., fish trawls targeted for finfish, shrimp trawls for shell fish and cephalopod trawls for exploitation of cuttle fish and squid. This classification shows that the industry has developed into a target fishing sector using resource specific gear. Shrimp trawls have undergone several changes in the course of time with increase in the number of seams from two to six, increase in vertical height and also increase in the length of the net. Mesh size in fish trawls in the fore part of the net increased from 150 to 2000 mm to reduce the drag. Two seam fish trawls, with head rope ranging from 20 to 81 m are widely used for exploitation of finfish in Andhra Pradesh. The codend mesh size of all the trawls were less than those stipulated in the Andhra Pradesh Marine Fishing Regulation Act 1995.