Last year Swan Net Gundry set about developing new and improved prawn gear with trawls that would be more robust and catch efficient but also as fuel efficient as possible.
The trawl design team developed two standardised trawls, designed to suit the entire Irish prawn fleet. SNG’s 420 and 520 x 80mm mesh IM Quad Trawls are constructed using top quality compact PE netting to ensure the trawls are robust, while keeping them as light as possible.
Innovative additions to this design include a foot belly sheet designed for better lifting of prawns, footrope lengths ranging from 16 – 23 fathoms and two varying circumferences available in rubber or chain.
With SNG’S Castletownbere, Union Hall and Killybegs depots having a busy start to 2021 constructing prawn trawls, feedback on the range of quad rigs coming from vessels working the current Porcupine Bank fishing season has been highly positive. SNG customers have reported that these improved trawls are delivering better catch efficiency and all skippers have reported improved fuel efficiency – providing as much as an extra two days’ fishing on their trip.
SNG provide full quad rig bridle systems from 18mm to 26mm combination to suit any vessel size.
With a newly refurbished dedicated design room at SNG’s Killybegs facility, the focus is on new models and innovation – with an on-site 3D computerised simulation programme as well as the construction of scaled model trawls of all of the new designs flume tank tested. Whilst these are great indicators, the real test is out in the open sea, according to SNG’s design team.
