Faroese freezer trawler Brestur began fishing in July with the new Infigo 576-mesh trawl from Vónin. The trawl looked a little strange at first, as it has a different construction to Brestur’s old trawl gear, but the new design has proved to be a real success for them.
The fishing line is the same length as that of the old 400-mesh trawl, but there’s a lot more netting in the upper section of the gear ,which provides a significantly larger opening that the older trawl.
‘This trawl has shown that it maintains the opening for longer, so it fishes longer and more effectively. We’ve also noticed there are fewer stickers in the netting,’ said skipper Birgir Hansen.
This trawl design is split in the aft section, with two bellies and two bags. While it’s much larger, it’s only marginally heavier to tow than the old gear.
‘This trawl tows well, even in heavy weather. The trawl is as strong as the old gear, and we’ve hauled it off a fastener and onto the deck with one parted bridle, and the damage was no more than we would have expected with the old trawl,’ he said.
‘We haven’t even used the old gear since we started fishing with the Infigo gear. We fished well on Greenland halibut off East Greenland that one of the skippers we were fishing next to said that we were getting with this trawl around two-thirds of what he was catching with two trawls. I’m so pleased with this trawl that it’s the only gear we have been using since it came on board last summer, and we have fished in East Greenland, UK waters and around the Faroe Islands,’ said satisfied skipper Birgir Hansen.
