My View of Life on the Dock
Dragger Pamet, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
This is one door out of a set of two which separate the net when it is set off of the stern of the trawler(dragger). The chains you see are attached to the cable wire which is released from the winch. Then the net is attached to the doors to get the spread needed to maximize the area of open net and snare as much fish as possible.
Dragger Pamet Door, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Trawler Pamet, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
The following text is about the best explanation of how Dragging or “Trawling” works in layman’s terms that I’ve run across. It comes from Oregon State University and the credits to the writers will be included at the bottom of the post. Read the explanation of trawling and then look at the pictures I took this morning with the titles of each thing they are talking about so you can visualize what they are saying. Even though this is from Oregon, our fishermen fish the same way only for different species.
A trawler is a vessel that drags a funnel-shaped net through water to harvest fish or shrimp. The net is wide at the mouth and tapers back to a narrow cod end that collects the catch. The average bottom trawl opening is 40 to 60 feet wide and 8 to 10 feet tall. Bottom trawlers usually tow their nets at 1 to 2 knots on or above the ocean floor. Fishermen might tow midwater trawls faster to catch faster-swimming schooling fish.
Trawlers have a large metal trawl door that is attached to each side, or wing, on the front of the net. The water hits the doors and the pressure of the water passing over the door spreads the net open. The doors are flat, oval, or slightly v-shaped. A steel cable extends from the door to a winch just behind the pilot house. Most large trawlers have square sterns with inclined ramps and are referred to as stern trawlers. The nets are hauled aboard up the inclined Boom Bottom ramp on the stern. Older trawlers without inclined ramps haul their nets over the sides using a haul line and a block on an overhead boom to bring in the cod end of the net.
Bottom trawlers tow the net along the ocean floor to catch fish that live on or just off the bottom. These fish include rockfish, cod, sablefish (black cod), ocean perch, flounder, and sole. Trawls can be designed to catch particular groups of fish. A large mesh net (4 1/2 inches to 5 inches) is kept on a stern-mounted reel. The two doors are stored along the rails near the reel.
The net is set off the stern by unwinding the reel so that the cod end is put into the water first. The rest of the net is unrolled from the reel, and then the doors are placed in the water. Water pressure on the doors causes the doors to separate and open the net. Enough cable is then released to place the net at the desired depth. The upper lip of the net is lifted up by floats on the headrope while the lower lip of the net is pulled down by a weighted footrope. This action opens the net vertically.
Rubber discs may be attached to the net to hold it down. There are now restrictions on the size of the rubber discs that can be used on footropes when trawling on the Oregon continental shelf. These restrictions confine trawling to mostly smooth bottoms, such as sand and mud. Tow times can last from 30 minutes to several hours. Depths can range from 5 to 700 fathoms (a fathom equals six feet). Bottom trawlers typically fish from 1 to 40 miles offshore.
The crew hauls in the net by winching in the cables until the doors are back in place and most of the net is on the reel. Once the catch is on board, the net is reset for another tow. Then the fish are separated into deck bins (checkers) and put in the hold, where they are iced or refrigerated.
The Oregon State Research Report Can Be Found Here
Writers: Ginny Goblirsch and Steve Theberge
Consultant: Scott McMullen
Artist: Herb Goblirsch
Editor: Sandy Ridlington
Design: Rick Cooper
Longline Hooks Ready To Be Clipped On The Main Line, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
They pour cement in the bottom of the crab traps so they will land bottom first once set off the boat. This way they will fish properly. Very few lobstermen pour cement in the bottom of lobster traps but I have seen it here and there. The prefered method of weighting a lobster trap is with bricks. This is another difference between lobster traps and crab traps.
Crab Traps,Naples Florida, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
The heavy monofilament line is wrapped around the spool. It goes up and through the blocks and out the stern of the boat with clips of mono and individual hooks on them. Hopefully each hook has a fish on it!
Naples Longliner Donna Marie Longline Set Up, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
As always with any of the pictures on the blog if you click on them it will bring you to the flicker page where it is hosted. There you can select the option “all sizes” above the picture for the full size version in which you can see the pictures full size and in greater clarity.
Other than the obvious hauling and setting from the stern of the boat can any of our commercial fishermen readers comment on any other differences between how they longline out of Naples versus Gloucester?
The Donna Marie- Naples Longliner, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Longlining explained aboard the Donna Marie. For any commercial longliners that watch the video feel free to jump in and correct any of my mistakes from the video. I’m not a fisherman but would like this to be as acuurate as possible. Just leave a comment below the video if you would.
Stevie and Ringo Untie The Lines Aboard The Lady Jane, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Joe Grillo bought the Net Profit. His old boat The Wanderer was old, tired and slow as molasses. To say that Joe is happy about the upgrade would be an understatement. Video at 8:00AM
Joe Grillo’s Net Profit, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Do you see the buoys on the old Wanderer’s antenna and the Net Profit? The same, red on top, yellow on the bottom- Joe Grillo’s buoy colors!
When looking at the boat what I notice is that the deck of the boats is really deep, it seems lower than waterline. There are no scuppers that I can see. I wonder how they clean the deck and get the water and fish guts out? Also if it took on water from a rogue wave how would it clear itself of the water?
Interesting. There must be some type of system to clear the water. Maybe they rely on pumps to pump the water overboard.
Robin Jean- Phil Bolger Boat Design Pics By Paul Frontiero, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Robin Jean- Phil Bolger Boat Design Pics By Paul Frontiero, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Robin Jean- Phil Bolger Boat Design Pics By Paul Frontiero, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
From what I understand this is one of Phil Bolger’s efficient boat designs. It is currently tied up behind Cape Ann Marina.
Long and slender and tall like a banana. Old Phil being the master boatbuilder that he is must know what he is doing but I don’t know how this stays upright if it takes a sea to it’s side with a high center of gravity. I defer to the master boatbuilder though. He must know what he is doing after all these years.
Robin Jean- Phil Bolger Boat Design Pics By Paul Frontiero, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
I would embrace the whole banana theme and paint her yellow with black stripes!
Moments after I took this picture the Kippen boys shoveled off the deck and headed out to go lobstering.
They got to about the Paint Factory when the engine alarm sounded. Realizing that the temperature of the engine had spiked dramatically they did the right thing and shut it down immediatly. Many times in the bitter cold cooling lines in engines freeze up and it can cause an engine to overheat. You can get a blown head gasket and many other problems. Shutting it down right away was the right course of action to prevent damage to the engine.
Kind of ironic that extreme cold creates a problem with overheating but that’s what happens when the coolant doesn’t get to circulate.
Melissa K Covered In Snow 01/18/09, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
See the ice making horizontal icicles from the wind on the way back from fishing. I sure hope all that ice was made when they were done on deck and sipping on some hot coffee in the pilot house for the ride home.
Gloucester At Dawn- Dragger Elizabeth Covered In Ice, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Gloucester At Dawn- Dragger Elizabeth Covered In Ice, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
So yesterday we got back from South Beach and my In Laws picked us up in the nice warm car. We went in to our warm house and spent the afternoon and night playing with the little ones.
This morning at 4:45 AM I took a swing through town and saw The Elizabeth, a dragger all covered in ice and thought it would make a good set of pics for the blog.
I got out of the truck with the camera and walked down the ramp at Rose’s Marine and started snapping. Well wouldn’t you know that in all my excitement of having a nice subject to photograph within minutes I couldn’t feel my fingers. Yuck! Now I remember why winter sucks so bad.
Gloucester At Dawn- Dragger Elizabeth Covered In Ice, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
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A hard working fisherman.
Good Morning Gloucester 