NordSea Trawls and Seines

Nordsea designs and constructs trawls and seines for all types of mobile fishing, and for harvesting a variety of demersal and pelagic species.

All trawls are precision designed and manufactured to the highest standard, using the finest quality materials which are sourced worldwide.

Extensive use is made of Flume Tank facilities in the initial design stage, culminating with full scale commercial evaluation at sea with net monitoring equipment and underwater cameras.

Nordsea Balloon Demersal Trawls

Nordsea Balloon Trawls are a product of computer aided, three dimensional design techniques. The 2 seam design allows for a variety of mesh sizes in the wings and square to eliminate drag. The trawls are constructed of high grade, heat stretched, Polyethylene netting. The netting is hung on combination wire rope, the Headline is hung on Polyester guard and the Fishing Line is hung with heavy guard netting and then wrapped with braided rope to protect the hanging meshes. The trawl has simple design features, which simplify repairs, it can also be used in a single or pair trawl mode.

Flotation is normally 8 inch heavy duty floats, and the groundgear is normally Rockhopper type, the size of discs depending on the horsepower of the vessel and the grounds to be fished.

The trawl is normally used to fish the following species: Cod, Haddock, Pollack, Hake, Flounder, etc. and is used on medium to hard ground by a variety of vessels with different horsepower.

Nordsea Nova Demersal Trawls

Nordsea Nova Trawls are a product of computer aided, three dimensional design techniques. The 4 seam design allows for a variety of mesh sizes in the wings and square to eliminate drag. The trawls are constructed of high grade, heat stretched, Polyethylene netting. The netting is hung on combination wire rope, the Headline is hung on Polyester guard and the Fishing Line is hung with heavy guard netting and then wrapped with braided rope to protect the hanging meshes. The trawl has simple design features, which include short wings, making it an excellent trawl for extremely hard ground. The 4 seam design tends to gibe better vertical openings than the 2 seam design.

Flotation is normally 8 inch heavy duty floats, or kites can be used, the groundgear is normally Rockhopper type, the size of discs depending on the horsepower of the vessel and the grounds to be fished.

The trawl is normally used to fish the following species: Cod, Haddock, Pollack, Hake, Flounder, etc. and is used on medium to hard ground by a variety of vessels with different horsepower.

Before a trawl is constructed Nordsea requires certain parameters from the customer, which are then generated through a database to determine the trawl size and door size to suit the particular vessel.

Nordsea Limited has developed and tested two new trawl designs… the Duplex with two codends, and the Triplex with three codends. The designs are based on the premise that increased footrope swept area; as is the case with twin trawling, can be achieved using a single net.

The new trawls feature a wide horizontal opening for harvesting shrimp or other groundfish species near the bottom. The design also allows a footrope spread area comparable to that achieved by twin trawls, and offers a ‘middle road’ alternative to owners that for financial or technical reasons, are unwilling to convert to twin trawling.

Compared to a single trawl of a given size, Nordsea’s trawl simulation program indicates that it may be possible to achieve a 20% increase in strategic footrope spread area with the Duplex design, and a 47% increase using the Triplex. The horizontal spread or footrope swept area of the new designs compares favourably with data obtained by Nordsea during a recent successful twin trawling project.

This increase in lateral spread justifies the decrease in headline height compared to a single trawl – a 24% decrease for the Duplex, and 32% for the Triplex. There is no requirement to maximize the vertical opening, as is the case for designs targeting roundfish.

Drag does not necessarily increase with multiple codends. Less netting is required in the new designs, compared to that needed for a similar footrope increase in traditional trawls. A single net with one codend and comparable front end geometry would require 30 to 60% more netting.

It is also important to note in the new designs the footrope swept area increase is concentrated in the middle of the net, not in the wings. The wider center area is an advantage when species such as shrimp and flatfish are low and dispersed on the bottom.