Mustad’s Autoline technology made a revolution in longline fishing during the ‘70’s and ‘80’s and since then more than 700 vessels worldwide have organised their fishing operations around this system.
After years of development and testing, Mustad is now launching an entirely new technological platform for longlining. Hand-baiting the hooks is still common in many areas, but operators all over have been asking for a more effective method to catch premium quality fish.
The new system, Select Fish, is much more flexible than the existing Autoline system and targets both coastal and deep-sea fisheries. Mustad says that it has fewer limitations with regards to space on vessel, gear to be used and species to be targeted than any other longline technology. It can also easily be combined with other fishing methods seasonally.
Prototype tests have shown that cost of operating can be reduced by 50% by using the Select Fish system (fuel, baiting, bait, gear), combined with improved catch ratio’ resulting from always having fresh bait on the hooks.
The system is a drum based longlining system especially designed for vessels from 40 to 90 feet.
The technology is based on a simple mechanism that separates the snoods form the mainline for separate storage on a drum. The snoods are connected and disconnected to the mainline by a plastic ball and clip.
This longline system can operated with both monofilament line and rope line. The machine disconnects the snoods in the hauling process and connects and baits the hooks and snoods in setting position.
The system is divided into different components: Line Hauler; Drum Spool; Hook Separator; Clip connector and disconnector; Magazines; Mustad Costal Baiting machine; and Linesetter.
