A study of the sinking speed of longlines influenced by bait properties and anchor weights

Abstract

The paper presents investigations on to which degree the sinking speed of longlines is influenced by type of bait, bait sinking orientations and anchor weights. The main aim of this study is to obtain further insight in the ocean current displacement phenomena in demersal longlining. The sinking speed is one of the main factors deciding the current displacement. In an ongoing project, sinking speed experiments with longlines with 6 kg and 10 kg anchor weights have been carried out in the Trondheim fjord. The longlines used in the first experiments were rigged without bait and hook. The results of these experiments with two different anchor weights have revealed only a slight difference in the sinking speed, except for the part near to the anchors, even though the sinking speed of longlines in general is supposed to be much influenced by the anchor weights. The reason for the obtained result is supposed to be that the experiments have been carried out at relative shallow waters. Further studies have included bait sinking experiments in the flume tank. The experiments showed that the drag coefficient of fillet type (flat) bait varied from 0.763 to 1.735, while it for elliptic type bait varied from 0.62 to 1.483. Other activities have included calculation of the sinking speed of longlines as a function of the established resistance coefficients of bait of various shape and size for commercial longlining. The calculated sinking speed of a longline with the fillet type bait was found to be 12.4 to 16.5% lower than for a longline without bait.