Trawl Gear Assembler

A trawl gear assembler is a skilled professional who specializes in the assembly, maintenance, and repair of trawl gear used in commercial fishing. Trawl gear refers to the equipment and gear used in trawling, a method of fishing that involves dragging a fishing net, known as a trawl, through the water to catch fish or other marine species. Trawl gear assemblers play a crucial role in ensuring the functionality and efficiency of the gear used by commercial fishing vessels.

South Africa operates 52 deep sea fishing trawlers, and they catch 160,000 tonnes of fish a year. These offshore fishing boats tow a net or trawl to catch the fish. The trawl performance and associated engineering in the commercial fishing sector is where fishing boats strive to gain an operational advantage over their competitors. The design of the trawl and its hydrodynamic performance must be designed for the fish behaviours, selection, fuel consumption, seafood sustainability and environmental impact. This is the technical side of the fishing industry.

The trawl is made from net and wire cable with handling equipment such as winches, net drums and lifting tackle on the boat to help handle the trawl gear. You will work in a factory environment to assemble the trawl to the client's specifications. You will work with your hands and have an understanding of lifting equipment and strength testing.

•Joining sections of net using a method called "lacing".

•Attaching head rope and foot rope.

•Fitting floats and sinkers.

•Attaching roller wire and chain.

•Fitting shackles.

This is a manual job, and you need to enjoy working with your hands and it is useful to have an understanding of strength tests and lifting loads. You will learn everything on the job, but a good entry requirement is many years working in the commercial fishing industry in South Africa.

As this is a very competitive aspect of the deep-sea fishing industry, research, and development into the competitive advantages of trawl design and performance is an area you could advance into. This could involve a better understanding of hydrodynamics and computer simulation of the trawl performance, or underwater recordings of the trawl in order to improve the design. An understanding of abrasion, breakage strengths and rope shrinkage will all help with research and development of the design.

Trawl gear assemblers can find job opportunities in various sectors of the commercial fishing industry, including companies that specialize in manufacturing fishing gear, fishing equipment suppliers, and commercial fishing operations. Experience in fabrication could lead to other opportunities in the marine engineering field.