There are a variety of fishing vessels which include trawlers, long-line craft, trap fishing craft, seiners, etc. Each has a different method of catching fish and is equipped accordingly.

The seiner is a type of fishing vessel that uses sein nets to trap fish near the surface of the sea.
The long-line vessels use a single line which could have up to 1000 lures on it.
Trap fishing applies to those craft that carry special traps which they lay in a target area. These traps are used to catch crustaceans (ie prawns, crawfish, crabs) at the bottom of the sea. They usually have large orange plastic floats attached.
Trawlers use special nets and trawling equipment to catch the bottom feeders. In other words they catch fish that lie deep in the water.

Characteristics of fishing craft.
The form of craft and the equipment to handle the catch differs according to the craft’s purpose. The following is a general view of their characteristics:

• The smaller craft are usually made of wood whilst the larger vessels are made of steel.
• They are also equipped with cold storage rooms for storing the catch until they return to harbour.
• They are equipped with special lifting gear to handle the nets and the catch.
• Trawlers have special gear with which they deploy their nets to keep them moving along the bottom and the nets open.
• Stern trawlers have a special ramp built into the stern over which the nets are deployed and recovered.
• All trawlers are equipped with winches specially fitted to handle their gear and the fish they catch.
• The position of the superstructure varies according to the type of vessel. The stern trawlers have theirs’ up forward, the majority of other types have it down aft.

Stern trawler Desert Diamond.