OTTER TRAWL

Demersal (bottom) trawl operated by a single vessel in which the horizontal opening of the net is achieved and maintained by 2 otter boards (large rectangular 'boards' of timber or steel) and the vertical opening by a combination of floats on the headrope and weights on the ground line. Attached between the head and ground ropes and the towing warps, the otter boards operate by the hydrodynamic forces acting on them when the net is dragged. Comonwealth of Australia (1997)