Fishing
Gear
Fish can be caught with hooks and
lines, nets or traps.
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Hooks and
Lines
Longlines:
These consist of lots of hooks
connected by means of snoods to a main line.
Drifting
(surface) Longlines:
This type of longline is laid a
few metres below the surface. It can be up to 10 miles long. All in all up to
3500 (depending on number of crew) can be laid when targeting swordfish, and
1800 for tuna. The bait is usually squid or mackerel. This longline is usually
laid at sundown and hauled in at dawn.
Bottom
Longline:
This longline is laid along the
bottom. It can be up to 4 miles long and usually has 500 hooks. Depending on
the size/capacity of the vessel, a number of longlines may be laid. The size of
hook, and type of bait depend on the target species. The main species caught
are groupers, common bream , red scorpionfish, gurnards, spurdogs and white
bream.
The
Trolling line:
The most popular method of
fishing by recreational fishers is trolling. This consists of a long line to
which are attached one or two hooks, and is pulled behind a boat travelling
slowly. Attached to the hook one may find either a feather or a shiny object
(lure). Fish caught by trolling include bullet tuna, dolphinfish and amberjack.
The Jig:
The jig consists of a long line
at the end of which are a number of sharp needle like protruberances attached
to a weight. This is mostly used to catch squid.
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Nets
These can be of three types:
those which are fixed (set), encircling nets, and those which are pulled behind
a vessel (trawl).
Fixed
Nets
The
Trammel net:
One of the most common is the
trammel net. This consists of three layers of netting on each other, with a
wide mesh on the outside and a smaller mesh in between. The net is kept in
place at the bottom by means of a lead-line, and is kept upright by means of
floats tied to the top line. Usually each piece of net is about 120 metres
long. The trammel net is cast in the evening and hauled in at dawn. In it are
caught a variety of small sized coastal species. Amongst them the most sought
after are red mullet and cuttlefish. Much of the small fish like
scorpionfish which are caught are sold for fish soup.
Set
Gillnet:
The set gillnet is a type of net
which is used either on its own or in combination with the trammel net. In this
case the net is known as a combined gillnet/trammel net. The gillnet is
attached above the trammel net and thus apart from catching bottom fish,
mid-water fish such as bogue, Atlantic horse-mackerel and sometimes also some
barracudas are caught.
Gillnets:
These nets are cast close to the
surface to catch a shoal of fish which stay close to the surface. The mesh size
varies according to the target species. Amongst these we find gillnets
targeting bullet tuna, and others for saddled bream.
Set
bottom gillnet:
This is a wide mesh net. This is
laid at the bottom and targets elasmobranchs such as rays and spurdogs.
Surrounding
nets
The
Dolphinfish net:
The dolphinfish net is used to
encircle Fish Aggregating Devices (Floats). The net is composed of different
sections with different length, depth and mesh size. The closer one gets to the
middle of the net, the net becomes deeper, and the mesh size smaller. The total
length of the net varies between 180-300 metres, while in the ‘purse’ the net
is up to 36 metres deep. The net is kept afloat by means of floats, and is kept
upright in the water by means of a lead rope at the bottom.
The Purse
Seine (used with Lights):
This purse seine is used to
encircle large shoals which congregate around a light source. This net must be
much larger than that targeting dolpinfish, as the fish caught with this metier
(including chub mackerel and Atlantic horse-mackerel) form very large shoals.
The net can be from 320-800 metres long, with a depth of from 50 to 140 metres.
The deepest part of the net is the middle where the net closes into a
bag/purse. That is why this type of net is known as a purse-seine.
The Tuna
Purse seine:
Another example of this net is
that used to catch Bluefin Tuna. In this case the net is much larger. The
length varies between 1500-2000 metres, with a depth of 120-250 metres.
Towed
nets
The Trawl
net:
The trawl net is towed behind a
vessel. The net can be lowered either to mid-water to catch fish which live at
this depth (pelagic), or at the bottom to catch bottom dwelling species. The
dish caught depends on the depth. While at a depth of 100 metres red-mullet are
caught, red prawns are caught at a depth of from 600-800 metres. The net is
funnel shaped. It is kept open by means of large metal sheets known as ‘Otter
boards’. Whereas the mesh size at the mouth of the net is wide, that in the bag
(cod-end) is much smaller.
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Traps
The Bogue Trap:
The bogue trap is made out of
cane. It is shaped like a light-bulb with the wide part at the bottom. This is
hung a few metres below the surface above posidonia meadows. The preferred bait
is a ball of chick-pea flour. Fish enter from below and are unable to get out.
After about one hour, the trap is retrieved so that the fisherman may open the
trap and empty it of the fish which he would have caught.
The
Picarel Trap:
The picarel trap which is bell
shaped is larger than that for bogue. These are used exclusively in Gozo. These
are thrown near the bottom, above posidonia, at greater depth than those for
bogue. It is interesting to note that no bait is put. It is thought that the
picarel enter the trap to spawn.
Octopus
Traps:
These box shaped traps are made
of ‘chicken-wire’. They are placed at the bottom of the sea in places where one
finds octopus. Usually a fisherman has a number of these, tied together at
distances of about 100 metres. When it is convenient, the fisherman hauls them
on the boat to extract the octopus he would have caught and replace the bait.
Sometimes, apart from octopus one may catch a moray eel or a small grouper.