Capture gear
Trawl Net / Gill Net
Mass fish capture gear
This photograph shows Mass fish capture gear.
This photograph shows Mass fish capture gear.
What it is
A trawl is a large net towed through open water or dragged along the seabed. A gillnet hangs in the water and catches animals by entangling them.
Where it sits in the system
These nets exist to take fish in bulk rather than one animal at a time. Volume is the point, and everything else the net encloses comes up with the catch.
Welfare concern
Animals struggle for long periods, are compressed against the net and each other, and die of injury, suffocation, or predation while still trapped.
Worth being precise about
Trawls, gillnets, and other nets catch animals by different mechanics, and the scale of bycatch and seabed damage varies strongly by gear type and fishery. This entry separates what happens to the animal in the net from the wider ecosystem effects.
