AREA SWEPT

The area of the sea floor over which the gear (usually a trawl, or a dredge) is dragged during its operation . The area is equal to the effective horizontal opening of the gear multiplied by the distance the gear has covered during the period of time considered (e.g during one hour trawl haul). Combined with information on the fish quantities caught during the considered time period, the area swept allows an estimation of a relative or absolute value of the fish density (and biomass) in the area.