DUTCH trawlmaker Maritiem has been using hexagonal mesh successfully in its pelagic gear to improve fish flow. One Vrolijk trawler has been reporting good results with the gear since taking it on board in October 2004.

"It's a design that we have been working on for some time, " Erik de Graaf of Maritiem tells FNI.

"We can use hex mesh in the wings, but we prefer to keep to diamond meshes in the wings ö especially on horse mackerel ö with hex mesh used in a half to two thirds of the belly." He explains that the trawl is made in nylon throughout, using handspliced braided nylon rope in 12 to 22 mm from the company's regular suppliers.

Rope used for this trawl has been developed in co-operation with Maritiem's suppliers. It needs to be easy to splice, retaining the right strength and abrasion resistance for use in a pelagic trawl.

In keeping with Maritiem's normal method of using graduated meshes, the hexagonal meshes diminish in every row.

"The disadvantage with this is that you have to ask more of the deck crew in that they need to clear three rows of the netting to repair a mesh, instead of two. They have to get used to this as a new concept.

"We supply them with premeasured bars for doing repairs, with one end spliced and the other open and ready to be spliced, so they do not have to do any measuring on deck." The large pelagic trawlers Atlantic Princess, Johanna Maria and Willem van der Zwan have all taken these new hex mesh trawls, although Willem van der Zwan's hex gear is a smaller net for fishing sardinella swimming close to the surface.

"We have also been repairing some freezer trawler herring nets and they can be 20 years old. But, in that time, everything has been replaced and some parts have been replaced many times. So, there isn't any single original section left in these 'old' nets!" Erik de Graaf says.

Maritiem also remains active in its export markets, supplying trawl gear for the Alaska pollock fishery and to customers in Murmansk, Russia.

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Better flow with hex mesh trawls