Estimation of the swept area of trawl net by numerical analysis

This study aims to estimate the trawl net width based on the design drawing and towing condition of sampling trawl used in past surveys to improve the accuracy of estimation for fishery resources. To this end, the trawl gear was modeled as a flexible structure and numerically analyzed, and the analysis results were subjected to multiple regression analysis. As a result, a model was derived to calculate the net width by the towing conditions. When the towing conditions from past surveys were input into this model, it was confirmed that the net width increased in a natural logarithmic manner with the increase in the warp length and that decreased linearly as the water depth increased at the same warp length. For verification of the model, the theoretical formula of other study and this model were compared. As a result, despite the values of the two were slightly different, the tendency of changing net width by increasing warp length was consistent each other. Therefore, it is thought that the derived model can obtain the net width according to various towing conditions and can contribute to improving the accuracy of fishery resources estimation.