RAW MATERIALS FOR NETTING

By Gerard Klust

According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), netting is defined

as "a meshed structure of indefinite shape and size, composed of one yarn or of one or
more systems of yarns interlaced orjoined . . .".
The raw material of the netting consists of fibres of which two main groups may be
distinguished: natural fibres and man-made fibres.
Of the natural fibres for fishing nets vegetable fibres are utilized almost exclusively and
particularly cotton, manila, sisal, hemp, linen and ramie. Animal fibres, such as silk or
hair, are either not suitable or too expensive for fishing nets. One exceptional example
is the Japanese fishery where silk nets have been used for specific gear. Of the man-
made fibres only the category of the synthetic fibres has particular advantages for
fishing nets. Others such as those made of regenerated cellulose (rayon, cellulose wool)
are not superior to natural fibres and therefore do not need to be considered. For
reasons outlined below synthetic fibres have already taken over almost completely in
progressive fisheries and natural fibres for fishing nets are therefore not
being discussed here in any detail.

1.1 Vegetable fibres

The cotton fibres which grow on the seeds of the cotton plant are very fine with a length
of only 20 to 50 mm and a diameter of about 0.01 to 0.04 mm. This fineness allows the
manufacture of a wide range of netting yarns from the finest of only 0.2 mm diameter
such as is required for very light gillnets up to practically any size. Consequently also
many other types of fishing gear have been made of cotton netting such as various
seines, small trawls, fyke nets, trap nets, lift nets, cast nets, trammel nets. In the past
cotton was the most important fibre for fishing nets.
The hard fibres sisal and manila or abaca are leaf fibres obtained from the tissue of the
leaves and leaf bases of an agave plant (sisal) or of the fibre banana plant respectively
(manila). They are coarse and therefore are mainly used for heavy netting as is needed
for bottom trawls and for ropes.

NETTING MATERIALS FOR FISHING GEAR

Linen, hemp and ramie are bast fibres derived from the bast tissues of the stems. Twines
made of these fibres were the material of special nets, for instance, linen for salmon
gillnets, ramie for drift nets in the Asiatic fisheries and hemp for river stownets or
trawlnets in Europe.

1.1.1 ROTTING

Vegetable fibres are parts of dead plants and consist mainly of cellulose. Therefore,
when conditions are humid or when they are immersed in wáter they are attacked by
cellulose digesting micro-organisms, especially bacteria.
This process of decomposition of dead organic material is of vital importance for
maintaining the life cycle because it releases the inorganic nutrients such as phosphorus,
nitrogen, and potassium and makes them available for new plant growth. Thus the
continuity of the life of plants and animals is assured.
Unfortunately, the side effect on fishing nets is a source of increased labour and financial
loss and is the main reason for the advance of synthetic fibres. A micro-photograph of
cotton fibres taken from a used fishing net (Figure 1) shows the damage (corrosion)
caused by cellulose-decomposing bacteria. (FIGURE I. Micro-photograph of cotton
fibres taken from a used fishing net, showing corrosion caused by microorganisms. X =
undamaged fibres. (For better visibility of the damage the fibres have been swollen by
caustic soda.)
There is a direct relation between the number of corroded fibres in a cotton netting yarn
and its loss in breaking strength so that determining by microscope the percentage of
damaged fibres is an effective means for judging the state of decomposition and the
remaining usefulness of cotton yarn or netting.
The four factors mainly determining the speed of decay of cellulose fibres are:
kind of fibre,
water temperature,
rotting power of the water,
duration of immersion in water.
The resistance of the various kinds of vegetable fibre against rotting differs, and
increases in the following order: linen, hemp, ramie, cotton, sisal, manila and coir.
However, with regard to practical use in fishing these differences hardly count at all, and
the resistance to rotting of all (untreated) vegetable fibres must in general be considered
as not adequate.
The activity of the cellulolytic bacteria depends to a great extent on the water
temperature. Consequently during the cold season the decay of vegetable fibres is
considerably slower than during the warm season. In the tropics nets become useless
faster than in temperate climates.
As regards the characteristics of the water, running waters generally have a greater
decaying power than stagnant waters. In fertile marine or fresh water which contains a
high percentage of organic substances, lime and phosphorous (eutrophic water) and
consequently has a high yield of fish, unpreserved nets of vegetable fibres are more
quickly destroyed than in unfertile, clear water. For instance, in the fertile brackish water
of a North Sea harbour (Europe) with a high rotting power, cotton netting yarns
decayed completely within seven to ten days during summer and autumn at 15 to 20C
temperature, and heavier manila netting yarns lost 75 to 85 percent of their breaking
strength within four weeks.
Fishing gear left uninterruptedly in water for a long time is naturally more liable to
rotting than when used only temporarily, and is especially liable to rot if set on the
bottom where the contact zone between the putrid mud and the water has the
strongest rotting power. Rotting is stopped only when nets are completely dried out
even to the inside of the knots.

1.1.2 PRESERVATION AGAINST ROTTING

The search for means to increase the resistance against rotting is probably as old as the
use of vegetable fibres for fishing nets and a great number of preservation methods
have been developed by practical fishermen, by fishery research institutes or the
chemical and textile industries. The methods of the practical fishermen mostly consist
of the use of coaltar, wood-tar or carbolineum, either alone or combined with
petroleum, benzene, etc., or in the treatment with tanning solutions as catechu
("cutch"), or other extracts of the bark or wood of certain trees. The use of metallic
compounds such as potassium bichromate, copper naphtenate, copper sulphate,
coprous oxkfe (e.g, "Tettalin") were introduced by research institutes tod the chemical
industries. Of the variety of preservation methods, two comparatively highly efficient
and thoroughly tested combination methods deserve attention : the "Testalin"
preservation and the preservation by tannin plus potassium bichromate (9a). Testalin
method: The nets are boiled for 30 minutes in a solution containing 2 percent of a tannin
agent (e.g. catechu or mangrove-extract) with an addition of 1 percent of the coprous
oxide agent "Testalin." After the nets are dried, the treatment is repeated, adding
another 2 percent of the tannin agent but no more Testalin. Additionally the
nets, while still wet, may be dipped in carbolineum.
Tannin plus potassium bichromate method: The nets are boiled for 30 minutes in a
solution containing 2 percent of a tannin agent. After drying they are put for one hour
into a solution containing 3 percent of potassium bichromate and after rinsing in water
they are dried.
This process is repeated, adding another 2 percent of tannin agent. If, in addition, the
nets are dipped in carbolineum a "three-bath-method" is obtained which is one of the
best net preservation methods known in fisheries.
The preservation effect obtained by the various methods depends on the degree of the
cohesion between the preserving agent and the fibres. Tar and carbolineum, even if
deposited in a thick layer on the surface of the netting yarn, do not cling tightly round
the individual fibres but leave gaps. They are therefore considerably less effective than
the two methods described above, by which the surface of each fibre is completely
covered with the bactericide preserving agent, which also penetrates into fibre-cuticles
and cell-walls.
Furthermore these agents are also not easily removed by the water and therefore
provide vegetable fibre nets particularly cotton with a comparatively high degree of
resistance to decay.
Figure 2 demonstrates how many times the usefulness of netting yarns, preserved by
various methods, can be increased as compared with untreated samples. Nos. 6 and 7,
representing the methods briefly described above, Rank highest. Simple preservations,
e.g. by tar, carbolineum or tannin alone (Nos. 1 to 3) are quite unsatisfactory unless they
are repeated frequently at short intervals. A high preserving effect can only be obtained
by combining the treatments with tannin, a metallic compound, and carbolineum or tar.
Of the metallic compounds tested potassium bichromate is the best. It may be
mentioned that most preservations offered by the chemical industries, which consist in
only soaking the nets in special solutions, do not improve the resistance against rotting
to any considerable extent.
With regard to the, efficiency of net preservation against rotting, four essential
reservations should be made: Even the best preservation can only retard the
decomposition of vegetable fibres in water but cannot prevent it.

NETTING MATERIALS FOR FISHING GEAR

The various vegetable fibres react differently to preservation. As shown in Figure 2, a
high degree of protection can only be obtained for cotton but not for hard fibres (manila)
and also not for hemp.
As really efficient preservation methods require a number of operations and costs
cannot be neglected, the fishery is reluctant to accept them and instead uses less
efficient ones usually with unsatisfactory results.
The preservation of fishing nets may have side effects on the physical properties of the
netting, such as stiffness, flexibility, extensibility, elasticity, breaking strength, mass,
colour, shrinkage, diameter, which have to be considered because they may be
disadvantageous for fishing gear.
In summing up, it can be stated that for fishing gear vegetable fibres present many
disadvantages, the most important of which is the short useful lifetime. Still, for
thousands of years, fishermen had no choice and had to work with gear made of
material which, properly speaking, is not really suitable for this purpose. The fact that
the introduction of synthetic fibres was one of the most important revolutions in
modern fishing is mainly due to one predominant characteristic: they do not rot.
Furthermore, no other innovation in fishing can be as widely applied as the new net
material. It is of equally great advantage to large scale deep-sea industrial fishing as it is
to the small-scale artisanal fishery and one can only agree with the words of an expert
that synthetic fibre "brings to one of man's oldest occupations the miracle of cience and,
in doing so, provides easier living for the fisherman."