Pesca

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 1. WHAT IS TRAPPING? What are traps? Types of traps and pots How do traps and pots work? 2. WHAT TYPES OF FISH, CRUSTACEANS AND CEPHALOPODS CAN YOU CATCH WITH TRAPS? Tropical areas Subtropical and temperate areas Colder waters 3. IS TRAPPING SUITABLE FOR YOU? 4. GEAR NEEDED FOR TRAP AND POT FISHING Trap- and pot-making materials Good bait Vessel and onboard equipmentVessel Trap handling equipment Bait storage Equipment for handling and preserving the catch v 1 1 1 2

Types of bait and/or other attractants needed and where to find them Suitable landing places A market for your catch Funding for new vessels and equipment 6. HOW TO MAKE VARIOUS TYPES OF TRAPS AND POTS Hiding places or habitat traps Brush traps Eel tubes Octopus pots and traps Barriers to fishmovement Enclosed traps and pots (baskets) Frame Covering Funnels Door Bait holder Escape gaps Ballast Anodes for metallic framed pots or traps Making traps to catch different types of fish, crustaceans and cephalopods Finfish traps and pots Traps and pots to catch lobsters, shrimps, prawns, crabs and other crustaceans Octopus, squid and cuttlefish pots and traps

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5. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GO TRAPPING 14 Types of fish to catch and the traps that will catch them 14

7. SELECTION OF FISHING GROUNDS Bottom species Mid-water and surface species 8. THE FISHING OPERATION Rigging Baiting Setting Soak time Hauling

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9. CARE OF THE CATCH Trap and potcatch handling guidelines Removal of the catch from the trap or pot Processing your catch Icing and storing Unloading your catch 10. OTHER THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW REFERENCES

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This manual could not have been written without the special help given to me by Mr Joel Prado, Fishery Industry Officer, FAO Fishery Technology Service (FIIT) and Mr RichardMounsey, Senior Gear Technologist, Fisheries Division, Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries. To both, I offer a special personal thanks. Thanks are also due to Mr J MacCartie, from the Northern Territory Fisheries Division, and the people who contributed information that has been included in the manual. These include: K. Aitken from the Caribbean; L. Basso, P. Fontaine, M.Boudreau and M. Monette from Quebec; A. Gonzales, L. Cardenas and R. Fernandez from Cuba; M. Okawra, P. Masthawee, S. Sae-Ung, S. Ananpongsuk and J. Fukui from the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC); T. H. Kim from the Republic of Korea; and D. Furevik and S. P. Hågensen from Norway. Many of the illustrations have been based on diagrams and figures provided by the above peopleand on the illustrations of fishing gear in the FAO catalogue of small-scale fishing gear, second edition and the FAO catalogue of fishing gear designs. Coonamessett Farm, Massachusetts, USA also kindly provided a drawing.

1. WHAT IS TRAPPING?
Fishing is one of the oldest ways by which people have fed themselves and their families. Except for gathering shellfish by hand and spearing fish(Figure 1), primitive trapping is probably the oldest form of fishing. In early times, flowing water caused by tidal movement and changes in river and lake levels were probably used to trap fish behind rudimentary barriers, often made from sticks and stones. It is likely that early humans found that fish catches could be improved by driving fish into these barriers. They would have found that catchesfrom these barriers decreased over time, as fish became accustomed to them, and would have had to move the traps to fresh areas where more fish could be caught. It would have been hard work to construct new traps, either by moving stones from the old trap or finding new ones. Primitive fishers probably tried making barriers from lighter, more readily available material such as tree branches,...