Design and general characteristics of sole fish gill nets of Ratnagiri, Maharashtra

Abstract

Gill net fishing is one of the popular fishing methods along the west coast of India. However, there are regional variations in their design, construction and operation. This paper deals with design and general characteristics of sole fish gill nets operated from Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. Main webbing of sole fish gill net was made up of material polyamide (PA) monofilament of 0.23 mm diameter and the mesh size varied in between 75 to 85 mm. Sole fish gill nets were set nets, operated near the coast mostly after monsoon season when the water was turbid. In Ratnagiri, the nets were fabricated with the hung length and hung depth which varied from 58.5 to 70.38 m and 3.42 to 3.92 m respectively. The total fleet length varied from 130 to 160 m. The sole fish gill net was operated in the depth ranging from 6 to 15 m. It was calculated that, average area covered by each unit in bottom set sole fish gill net was 213.85 m². Ten to twenty number per unit of plastic or expanded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) floats were used on head rope and oval shape lead sinkers of 20 to 23 g weight and 72 to 100 number per unit were used on foot rope. Sole fish gill nets were locally known in marathi <i style="">as “Lepechi jali”</i>.