Gillnets

Gillnets are mainly used by small to intermediate sized boats, similar in size to longliners. Fishing is based on the fish swimming into the net since they are not able to see it and getting entangled by the gills. The nets are rectangular and kept vertical by floaters on top and lead-weights at the bottom. Each net is about 50 m long, but a few (often around 10) nets are tied together and a number of such units placed by each ship. The nets are left for one night, preferably not longer since otherwise quality of the catch will suffer. Bad weather may, however, delay the nets being attended to and the fish being brought ashore for processing.

Gillnets are used extensively during the late winter season when the cod is migrating to the spawning grounds. These fisheries begin in January, reach a peak in March and end in May. Gillnets are used all around Iceland but by far the most important grounds are S and SW of the country where the main spawning grounds are. Cod is the primary target as with so many other fishing gears, but large amounts of saithe are also fished, as well as lesser amounts of haddock, monkfish, ling and some other species in even lower quantities. Besides cod gillnets, many specialized versions of bottom gillnets are also used, mainly differing in mesh size. There are nets optimized for haddock (140-150 mm mesh size), lumpsuckers (180-270 mm), flatfish (165-200 mm), Atlantic halibut (460 mm). Except for the lumpsucker nets, none of these are in large scale use. Common gillnets used in cod fisheries have a 140 to 204 mm mesh size, the former being the minimum allowed in most grounds. All of these nets are bottom gillnets. Driftnets have only been used in herring fisheries (63 mm mesh size) and only before 1987.

The first recorded use of nets in the ocean near Iceland was in 1753, although nets were well known to Icelanders prior to that and had in fact probably been used in freshwater trout fisheries for centuries. However, the nets were expensive if they were to be strong enough to be able to withstand bad weathers at sea, and were bulky and thus could be dangerous in rough weathers in the ocean. Therefore, they did not become popular in marine fisheries until the mid 1950s when nylon became available. It made the nets stronger, thinner and much lighter. New synthetic fibers have also been used recently. Another significant change was the introduction of lead sinkers in 1979 which replaced the use of stones. It has been estimated that this increased the catchability of cod by 20-30% since fewer fish escaped under the net. However, this did not change the catchability of saithe, presumably since it is usually located higher off the ocean bottom than cod.

References and further information

References: (Gunnarsson et al. 1998), (Kristjánsson 1983), (Þór 2002), (Þór 2003), (Þór 2005)

For full citation and further information on fishing gear see this page.

Hörður Sævaldsson / Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson University of Akureyri