Tooltip Tags: Purse Seine

World Tuna Purse Seine Organization

Supply vessel

A vessel that provides assistance to other fishing vessels, such as fuel supply, fish storage, refrigeration or processing, and/or periodic transportation of catches to shore. Some fleets use supply vessels to plant and check FADs and to maintain them. A supply vessel can work with one purse seiner or be shared by a group. Such activity allows a fishing vessel to access a larger number of FADs than it would otherwise be able to maintain.

Purse seine

A fishing method used in the open ocean targeted to dense schools of pelagic tuna‑species. It consists of a large vertical net that is deployed around an entire area to surround the school of fish. The purse seine has floats along the top line and chains or weights at its bottom to allow the net to sink. Once the fish school is encircled, the net is closed underneath the school by hauling the purse line at the bottom of the net, which is called “pursing”. As the volume of the net becomes smaller, the fish become more concentrated and the catch can be finally scooped out using a brailer. Purse seines can also be used to catch fish congregating around a fish aggregating device (FAD), which can result in higher levels of bycatch.

Purse Seine

Object set

A purse seine set on a floating object, such as a FAD or a log.

Brailer

A type of bulk fish convey net, which is generally used in seine vessels for transferring the fish, harvested from the purse seine, to the main vessel after having concentrated the catch.