Typically, a trawl begins with the ship slowing down to between 1-3 knots and the pelagic net can be deployed for 30 minutes to an hour. The exact timing of each is normally left up to the Captain to decide based on ocean conditions and how much fish is caught (the net is equipped with a headline sensor that sends signals to the ship on how much fish have entered the net and other information).

Pelagic trawling requires a lot of skill from the crew. Luckily, we have on board two experienced groups of deckhands led by the Fishing Master (blue shirt in the video below) who has over 23 years of experience.

The video shows what normally happens when a pelagic trawl is pulled back on board. The first thing that is pulled back are two large blue “doors” seen on the outside of either side of the back opening, and these are suspended in the water to keep the mouth of the net open. The winches then start pulling the net slowly back in and the Fishing Master must always watch the chains around the winch in case something is tangled.

The crew then remove the heavy iron chains that weigh the opening of the net down when it’s in the water and remove the orange buoys. The four large orange balls mark the opening of the net and keep it afloat and they are also removed.

As the net starts coming in, you can see lots of small creatures like jellies and juvenile fish caught in the net and fish start becoming visible in the green part of the net. The catch is concentrated at the tail end of the net and the Fishing Master lets some of the water drain out before bringing it onboard.

This is the point when the crew must get to work untying the bottom of the net and making sure no fish are caught in the neck of the net before it gets wrapped around the winch (drying, rotting fish is not a good smell for a net!) and then hooking the net up to a crane that lifts the heavy catch and dumps is out for the scientists to sort.