Evaluating the impact of gillnet ghost fishing using a computational analysis of the geometry of fishing gear

Abstract

We developed a net shape and load analysis system (NaLA) that can estimate the three-dimensional shape of fishing gear underwater computationally. This paper introduces the latest version of the numerical model of the NaLA. Previously, NaLA was used to estimate the net geometries and internal forces of some fishing gear, demonstrating its general versatility. However, the ultimate goal of our study has been to learn about the impact of fishing and the capture process from a physical perspective, not simply to develop elemental technologies for gear design. Accurate, quantitative evaluation of fishing gear performance from a physical perspective can be used to estimate the potentialities of the ghost fishing to gillnet gears. Although the applications are not limited to geometries and internal forces, the paper describes how computer-aided simulations of fishing gear should be applied to investigations of the impact of ghost fishing caused by lost drift and bottom gillnets. The computational results showed that a driftnet with homogenous net panels was deformed slightly and bent only at the two ends of the net. Accumulation of periphyton on a bottom gillnet after 25 d of immersion caused it to settle to the sea bottom. © 2007 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved.