Measurement of the inner mesh size

Abstract

At present, different methods of determining the mesh size of net materials are used at the enterprises engaged in net production, fishing gear construction and enterprises engaged in aquatic bioresources extraction. Thus, for example, the factories producing netting materials and enterprises manufacturing fishing gear measure the factory and structural mesh size, which essentially reflects the structure of the material, and the control of selectivity of fishing gear on the part of supervisory authorities provides for measuring the internal mesh size. Enterprises engaged in the extraction of aquatic bioresources are interested in purchasing fishing gear or net materials that meet the requirements stipulated for the fishery basins in which the extraction is expected. It is also known that at present there is no unified methodology for measuring the internal mesh size, and the existing methodologies are not uniform for all fishery basins. Due to the lack of uniformity of methodologies, ambiguous situations arise during the period of inspection of fishing gear by supervisory authorities for internal mesh size, which entail fines for administrative offences in the field of fishing regulations. To date, a case of violation of the internal mesh size in the Far East basin in the catch of raw pollock, detected in the course of inspection by border guards, has been considered in administrative proceedings. The case was initiated by a fishing enterprise due to disagreement with the procedure and methodology of the inspection, which does not apply to this fishery basin. Thus, a legal precedent is being set, pushing for the development of a domestic mesh measuring device and corresponding methodology. In this article, some domestic and foreign methods and means of measuring internal, structural and factory mesh size are considered, and a means of measuring internal mesh size developed at the Department of ‘Water Transport Operation and Industrial Fishing’ is proposed.