Introduction

Fishing gears vary greatly in their structure, materials used and principles of capture process and methods of operation. Fishermen may use several fishing gears and methods appropricate for the species and environmental and ground conditions. Several systems of classification of fishing gears have been developed based on the principles of capture, design and technical features and operational methods. Fishing gears whether primitive or sophidaticated use five mechanisms in the capture process viz., gillling and tangling, tapping, filtering, hooking and spearing and pumping.

Among the great variety of harvesting systems available around the world, the  most significant  in commercial  fisheries  are  purse  seines  and trawls, followed by lines, gill nets and entangling nets and traps.