1. The amount of fishing gear of a specific type used on the fishing grounds over a given unit of time e.g. hours trawled per day, number of hooks set per day or number of hauls of a beach seine per day. (FAO, 1997.
2. The overall amount of fishing (usually per unit of time) expressed in units such as: boat days on the fishing ground, number of traps, or trawl hauls, or (gillnet length x soaking time), etc. The effort may be nominal , reflecting the simple total of effort units exerted on a stock in a given time period). It may also be standard or effective when corrected to take account of differences in fishing power and efficiency and ensure direct proportionality with fishing mortality). Relates usually to a specific fishery and gear. If more than one gear is considered, standardization in relation to one of them is necessary. For biologists, a good measure of fishing effort should be proportional to fishing mortality. For economists it should be proportional to the cost of fishing.