722-724Gill net fishing is one of the popular
fishing methods along the west coast of India. However, there are regional
variations in their design, construction and operation. This paper deals with
design and general characteristics of sole fish gill nets operated from
Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. Main webbing of sole fish gill net was made up of
material polyamide (PA) monofilament of 0.23 mm diameter and the mesh size
varied in between 75 to 85 mm. Sole fish gill nets were set nets, operated near
the coast mostly after monsoon season when the water was turbid. In Ratnagiri,
the nets were fabricated with the hung length and hung depth which varied from
58.5 to 70.38 m and 3.42 to 3.92 m respectively. The total fleet length varied
from 130 to 160 m. The sole fish gill net was operated in the depth ranging
from 6 to 15 m. It was calculated that, average area covered by each unit in
bottom set sole fish gill net was 213.85 m2. Ten to twenty number
per unit of plastic or expanded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) floats were used on
head rope and oval shape lead sinkers of 20 to 23 g weight and 72 to 100 number
per unit were used on foot rope. Sole fish gill nets were locally known in
marathi as “Lepechi jali”