Designing and Testing New Fishing Gears: The Value of a Flume Tank

Abstract

A B S T R A C TIncreasing regulations, bycatch restrictions, and concerns over ecosystem impact are now the driving forces for much of the development in fishing gear design occurring world-wide. Industry, government, and universities have responded to these challenges with major advancements in computer aided design, simulation, physical modeling techniques, and worldclass testing facilities. Model studies are a critical step in the development of new fishing gears and flume tanks are the de facto standard for investigating their attributes and performance under controlled conditions. This paper discusses the nature of flume tanks, their attributes, as well as the science and art of building and testing scale models of fishing gear. Footnote

Comparison between dynamic simulation and physical model testing of new trawl design for Chilean crustacean fisheries

“…Given the need to obtain a validated trawl prototype, the research team followed the methodological procedure proposed by van Marlen (1989) and adapted by Winger et al (2006). This procedure begins with defining objectives of the new trawl design, followed by the use of computer simulation and then flume tank testing to assess performance.…”

Bycatch reduction in the Northeast USA directed haddock bottom trawl fishery

“…The fishermen utilized the flume tank facility at the Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Resources located at the Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland to make adjustments to the original design (Winger et al, 2006). The modified net, which has been named the Eliminator Trawl TM by the net manufacturer, Superior Trawl, was then built for this study.…”

Industrial double rig trawl fisheries in the southeastern and southern Brazil: characterization of the fleet, nets and trawl simulation

“…In order to advance on the knowledge of the hydrodynamic performance of trawl nets, it is known that the use of dynamic simulation tools provides a valid approach with an acceptable level of error during design and evaluation stages (Vincent, 1999;Queirolo et al, 2009;Nguyen et al, 2015). Essentially, the most advanced knowledge stages require the use of supplementary hydrodynamic performance tools, such as the use of flume tanks and direct measurements in the sea according to the specific objectives (Winger et al, 2006).…”