Fishing methods

Purse Seining

Small vessel purse seining – encircling a school of pelagic fish by setting a large net around it - has traditionally been executed by larger semi-industrial fishing vessels that need a fishing port to discharge its catch. The vessels are designed to be launched and retrieved directly on the beach, through surf of 1-2 meter. After the fish is captured, the seine is towed to the beach and retrieved by tractor winch or manpower.

The catch is not loaded into the vessel, but brought to shore alive in the purse seine. In Portugal, each vessel can land 2-4 tons of fish per set or up to 20 tons per week. The concept is ideal for remote areas with no ports and sufficient stocks of fish.

Mounting of gillnets. The use of gillnets in fisheries are one of the best ways to do use selective gear, as long as the fishermen is not discard nets in the ocean. Our "Sãozinha" carries 200 gillnets of 50 meter each.

Gillnets

Bottom gillnets requires an electric or hydraulic winch and an electric / hydraulic generator, respectively. The boat has capacity of 200 nets, each 50 meter in length. The nets are set and retrieved on the following day.

The catch is normally high value demersal fish that needs storage on ice on board. The boat has capacity for 1.5 ton storage with fish on ice.

Hand line, pole and line

The boat can operate with four fishermen and the captain. The capacity of fish is 1.5 tons when using ice. The winch is used when a large pelagic, shark or grouper is caught.

Surface long line

This fishing can use a mechanical winch without electric or hydraulic power. The catch is normally tuna, swordfish, sailfish and shark. Since the line and the winch are relatively light, the capacity of fish would be over 1, 5 tons.

Beach Seining

A boat with a seine of about 400 meter in length is taken out to the sea, up to a nautical mile offshore. Before leaving, a rope to the left side of the seine is anchored ashore. After setting the net, the boat returns to shore with an attached rope and the net is dragged to the beach.

This type of artisan fishing has received much criticism because it collects everything that is in the way of the seine. There are, however, many beach areas without much other fish than schools of small pelagics and squid. In these areas, beach seining is an effective way to supply large quantities of pelagic fish. 

Traps and pots

The cargo volume in the boat is 4 m3 or up to 6 m3 if the traps are loaded over the border. The boat is therefore ideal for transporting traps to the fishing grounds. Traps and pots can be operated by manpower, but a winch is increasing drastically the  productivity.