Tag Archives: trawl gear

Tornados Make Bering Sea Debut

Seattle trawler Storm Petrel has finished its first trips using a pair of Tornado pelagic trawl doors from Vónin, and skipper Acácio DoMar has been impressed with how the new doors have handled. ‘They tow well, square well and shoot away well. They’re a great fit to what we do,’ he said, as the A-season for Alaska pollock was coming to an end. This is the 37-metre Storm Petrel’s main fishery. ‘We fish pollock for most of the year. There’s some codfish, but it’s a small season.’ The company did its homework ahead of investing in new doors, with Acácio DoMar’s fellow captain and fleet manager Dan Martin travelling to Scotland and other places to check out the latest technology. Photos, >click to read< 18:01

Wing Slashes Shrimp Trawling Fuel Costs and By-catch Rates

Randy Skinner’s Wing Trawl System has been through a few generations of development, each tested and put through its paces on board his own shrimper, the 65′ (19.80m), twin-engine F/V Apache Rose, working across the seasons to try out the Wing Trawl under all weather conditions as well as across the range of depths the shrimp fleet operates. He set up Environmental Trawling Solutions as a company to continue to develop and produce the WTS. ‘There are no drawbacks that I’ve been able to find,’ he said. The results have been startlingly successful, as the Wing Trawl has returned lower fuel costs – plus a significant reduction in by-catch, demonstrated in a comparative trial carried out with the University of New Orleans. The drop in by-catch is a major advantage that hadn’t been anticipated at the outset, as his initial goal was to develop gear that would be more economic to run. photos, videos, >click to read< 20:42

This Wing Will Fly! Wing Trawling System Wins Ocean Exchange Neptune Award – October 21, 2017, The winner of the Ocean Exchange Neptune Award in the amount of $100,000 USD is Wing Trawling System or WTS (USA-AL). >click to read<

Playing Catch: Northern Europe Fisheries Fleet Review

Record hauls of wild fish, an unprecedented return on farmed salmon, finance and subsidy garner new orders, new designs and emboldened suppliers. In Scandinavia, particularly Norway, rich, carefully managed fisheries raise just one question for the commercially minded — which wave of business to ride. A growing number of large and small players are in on the action, as historic profits are heralded up and down the supply chain. For the hardened makers of gear that know tougher times, this is the golden age. “We’ve sold record numbers of net haulers to boats up to 50 foot,” says Hydema Syd stalwart Solbjoerg Solgaard. Sales to the U.S. are soaring, she says, and Canada has picked up, especially for automatic hauling equipment. 8 images, click here to read the story 20:29