NOAA Fisheries Image Gallery

Commercial Fishing Gear

Picture by: Unknown Picture taken on: March 31st, 2011

Tags: fishing commercial gear rope

Commercial fishing methods have become very efficient using large nets and factory ships. Fishing methods vary according to the region of the country, the species being fished for, and the technology available to the fishermen. A commercial fishing enterprise may vary from one man with a small boat with hand-casting nets or a few pot traps, to a huge fleet of trawlers processing tons of fish every day. Commercial fishing gears in use today include surrounding nets (e.g. purse seine), seine nets (e.g. beach seine), trawls (e.g. bottom trawl), dredges, hooks and lines (e.g. long line and handline), lift nets, gillnets, entangling nets and traps. There are large and important fisheries worldwide for various species of fish, mollusks, crustaceans and echinoderms. However, a very small number of species support the majority of the world’s fisheries. Some of these species are herring, cod, anchovy, tuna, flounder, mullet, squid, shrimp, salmon, crab, lobster, oyster and scallops. All except these last four provided a worldwide catch of well over a million tons in 1999, with herring and sardines together providing a catch of over 22 million metric tons in 1999. Many other species are fished in smaller numbers.

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