Two hundred and eighty fishing units were interviewed for this survey. Conducted during February and March 1981, the interviews sought details about fishing operations and fish landings. The work covered the two main categories of drift-net - 31/2 – 41/2 inch and 71/2 – 81/2 inch stretched mesh respectively - at three major landing sites.

It was found that the productivity, expressed in terms of catch weight per fishing day or as catch value per day of trip duration at that time was considerably lower for large-mesh units than for small-mesh units, It was also found that the average length of net used by large-mesh boats (around 1300 m) was considerably less than that for small-mesh boats (1800-2200m). There was no difference in the number of crew on board: between 7 and 10 per boat, in both categories. Averages for times spent running to and from fishing grounds, and for times actually spent fishing, were established. In this respect the units may be considered very efficient-very little time was wasted. The catch weight per km net and fishing day may have varied more with the fishing area than with the category of net used. Differences in value of catch per km net resulted not so much from differences in catch composition between units and categories of units as from other factors such as length of net deployed, skill of crew etc.

The survey contains suggestions as to how similar surveys could be designed and carried out in the future.