FIGURE 3.- TYPICAL NEW ENGLAND OTTER TRAWL. 



after a warm-up period to ensure that jill 

 the circuits are operating efficiently.) 

 The cod end, with frame and camera unit in- 

 side, is then lowered into the water to be 

 checked for leakage. 



Setting out 



If after about five minutes' time no 

 leaks are detected, the trawl is slacked 

 away from the vessel and a measured amount 

 of the camera cable is payed out — just 

 enough to provide for optimum slackness. 

 The cable is then lashed to the center of 

 the head line of the net and the vessel 

 steams ahead paying out the trawl warps. 

 Great care must be exercised with the cam- 



era cable at this time to prevent it from 

 becoming fouled with parts of the net and 

 the otter boards. 



As soon as the net has cleared the 

 stern, the camera cable is payed out over 

 the winch hecid through a snatch block on 

 the boom (see fig. 10, page 12) at a rate 

 in keeping with the rate of setting of the 

 trawl warps. This is the most critical 

 point in the cable-handling operation — too 

 little slack will cause cable breakage, too 

 much slack will cause fouling of the cable 

 with the trawl. 



Usually a length of camera cable and 

 trawl warp amounting to three times the 



