Patent ID: 6343433
Filing Date: 2002-02-05
Classification: A01K

Abstract:
For towing behind a trawler and mounting to a trawl net towable behind said trawler, an apparatus for separating target and non-target species harvested from a waterbody, comprising;a catch boat towable behind said trawler for towing concomitantly with said trawl net, an elongate intake conduit having first and second ends, said first end of said intake conduit mountable to, so as to be in fluid communication with, an aperture in said trawl net, when said trawl net is submerged in said waterbody, said second end of said intake conduit opposite said first end of said intake conduit and mounted to said catch boat in fluid comniunication with a fluid reservoir in said catch boat, fluid urging means for urging fluid containing harvest species and by-catch along said intake conduit from said first end to said second end of said intake conduit so as to discharge fluid from said second end of said intake conduit into said fluid reservoir, and outflow means for discharging fluid and by-catch from said catch boat, wherein said fluid urging means is a selectively vertically displaceable catch drawer mounted within a well in said catch boat, and wherein said second end of said intake condiut is mounted to an intake aperture in said catch drawer positioned so as to be submergible below a waterline of said catch boat when said catch boat is floating in said waterbody and said catch drawer is lowered relative to said well, and wherein said fluid reservoir is contained within said catch drawer.