New sandeel trawl

The owners of pelagic vessel HG62 Beinur were looking for a trawl that would be easy to tow and handle easily onboard, following difficulties with their previous trawl.

Vónin designed the new Vónin Lunde trawl in collaboration with Beinur’s skippers, with the help of the Ifremer computer simulator and the flume tank at Hirtshals.

The four-panel Vónin Lunde trawl is made with the front sections hand-spliced using Vónin Royal rope in 8m bars to make up the hexagonal meshes, with heavier material used in the lower sections, a lightweight Dyneema headline, braided Eurosteel in the side lines and a chain footrope to maintain ground contact. The new trawl has an 819m fishing circle.

“The final results were what we had been hoping for. With a towing speed of 3.4 knots, the Lunde trawl performed with a horizontal spread of 60m between the wing ends and a 30m vertical opening. There were very few stickers in the gear, indicating that the water flow was right, and it tows easily. Adding that it also proved to haul and shoot easily, which is a very important consideration for the skippers”, said Vónin.

The trawl was so successful onboard Beinur during its sandeel season that skipper/owners Frídálvur Tindskard and Gunnar Nolsøe have ordered a slightly smaller set of Vónin Lunde 742m gear for their other pelagic vessel, HG63 Brestur, for next year’s sandeel season.