What kind of fishing boat is that? 

Purse Seiner Purse seiner. 

Purse seiners catch primarily pink salmon and herring 

by encircling them with a long net and drawing 

(pursing) the bottom closed to capture the fish. 

The net is first stacked on the 

stern of the boat and 

then played into the 

water while the boat travels in a large circle around 

the fish. The far end of the 

net is attached to a power 

skiff, which holds the net 

while the seiner completes the 

circle. The top of the net stays on 

the surface of the water because of 

its float line—thousands of colorful 

floats—and the bottom of the net falls 

vertically because of its weighted lead line. As a 

result, the net hangs like a curtain around the school of 

fish. The vessel crew then purses its bottom with a purse 

line. The lines and the net are pulled up with a hydraulic 

power block (winch). Once most of the net has been retrieved, with the remainder of it lying in a bag alongside 

the vessel, the fish are dipped from the bag and into the 

vessel’s hold. For large catches of herring, a buying vessel 

or tender comes alongside the fishing vessel and lowers 

the end of a fish pump into the bagged purse seine. The 

herring are then brought aboard the tender and into its 

hold without ever going aboard the seiner. Sometimes 

referred to as limit seiners, purse seiners are sleek, cabinforward vessels that are limited by Alaska law to 58 feet 

in order to more precisely manage their fishing effort. 

They are recognized by their long, clean decks, the boom 

with its power block, the net stacked on the back, and 

the power skiff that is often seen riding piggyback aboard 

the vessel’s stern while it is traveling. When fishing, of 

course, the circle of floats on the surface of the water, and 

the power skiff assisting with the operation, are sure giveaways. Seine-caught salmon are delivered in-the-round 

(whole) to buying stations and canneries where they end 

up as canned and frozen products. Herring are delivered 

to processing plants where they are either stripped of 

their roe (eggs), or packaged as bait for other commercial 

fisheries; e.g., the longline fisheries and the crab fisheries. 

Salted herring roe, called kazunoko, is shipped to Japan 

where it is a high-priced delicacy. 

Gillnetter 

Gillnetters catch salmon—primarily

sockeye, chum, and coho—by setting 

curtain-like nets perpendicular to the 

direction in which the fish are travelling as they migrate along 

the coast toward their natal 

streams. The net has a float line on 

the top and a weighted lead line on 

the bottom. The mesh openings are designed to be just large enough to allow 

the male fish, which are usually larger, 

to get their heads stuck, or gilled, in the 

mesh. Much larger fish and the smaller females are not so readily gilled. Gillnets work 

best in silty or turbid water which makes them 

difficult for the fish to see. Gillnet vessels are usually 30 to 40 feet long. They are easily recognized by the 

drum on either the front, a bow picker, or the stern, a 

stern picker, on which the net is rolled. Net retrieval is by 

hydraulic power which turns the drum. Fish are removed 

from the net by hand, picking them from the mesh as the 

net is reeled onboard. Gillnet-caught salmon are usually 

iced and delivered to buyers and cold storages. Historically, their ultimate destination was the canned market, 

though a growing market for frozen product has developed overseas. 

Gillnetter. 

Setnetting is a small-scale type of gillnetting done by 

hand from a skiff or from shore, usually by local families. There are no hydraulics. Nets are fixed and are 

held onshore or offshore with anchors. 

Skiffs are used to set nets—one end on shore, other 

anchored off shore. Sometimes both ends are in the 

water most of the time and when a cork bobs the 

fish is pulled out. After salmon are picked from 

nets they are iced down and delivered to large 

collection boats, called tenders. 

Troll vessels catch salmon, principally Chinook, coho, 

and pink salmon, by “trolling” bait or lures through feeding concentrations of fish. The word troll comes from a 

medieval German word, trollen, and refers to the revolving motion of the bait or lures used in this type of fishing. 

Typically, four to six main wire lines are fished, each of 

which may have up to a 50 pound lead or cast iron sinker 

or cannon ball on its terminal end, and 8 to 12 nylon 

leaders spaced out along its length, each of which ends 

in either a lure or baited hook. To retrieve hooked fish, 

the main lines are wound about small, onboard spools 

via hand crank (hand trollers) or with hydraulic power 

(power trollers), and the fish are gaffed when alongside 

the vessel. The leaders are then rebaited and let back 

down to the desired depth(s). Troll vessels come in a 

variety of sizes and configurations, ranging from small, 

hand troll skiffs to large, ocean-going power troll vessels of 50 feet or more in length. Troll salmon fishermen operate throughout Southeast Alaska in both 

state and federal waters. The troll salmon fishery 

produces a low-volume, high-quality product. 

Troll-caught salmon are dressed at sea and sold 

either as a fresh or frozen product. High-end 

grocery stores and fine restaurants are the final 

destination. 

Troller. 

Troller 

ADF&G Division of Commercial Fisheries 

P. O. Box 115526 Juneau, AK 99811-5526 

(907) 465-4210 • http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/ 

Images © 2008 Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute 

Updated April 2009 
What kind of fishing boat is that? 

Trawler 

Trawlers are sometimes confused with trollers due to 

their similar sounding names. Trawlers typically catch 

large quantities of midwater species such as pollock 

or pink shrimp, and bottomfish such as flounder, 

by towing a large, cone-shaped net. Most trawl 

nets have doors on either side of the net’s 

opening to help hold it open, and 

some that are fished near 

the bottom have 

a heavy chain 

strung along the 

bottom of the opening to hold it close to the sea floor. 

The net is retrieved using huge winches and a power 

drum upon which the net is rolled as it is brought aboard. 

The end of the net, the bag or cod end, holds the fish and 

is usually pulled right up into the back of the vessel on a 

slanting stern ramp. Trawlers are generally large vessels; 

the largest in the ocean pollock fishery are factory trawlers that possess onboard processing facilities. These can 

be up to 600 feet in length. Catches are often enormous, 

with a two-hour tow of the net yielding up to 100 tons 

or more depending on the fishery, the size of the vessel, 

and the concentration of fish in the area. The trawl fishery may process its catches into either fillets destined for 

the fresh and frozen market, or minced fish called surimi, 

which is manufactured into fish sticks and similar products such as artificial king crab. Shrimp fishermen sort 

their catches by size and species and sell the product as 

either a whole frozen product, or as a headed 

Crab boats 

Jig Fisher. 

frozen product. 

Jig Fisher 

Commercial jig fishing, also 

known as automated handlining, is a method of fishing 

using hooks with lures which 

are jigged up and down in the 

water. Jigs create a jerky, vertical 

motion, unlike spinnerbaits which move through the water horizontally. The jig is very versatile and can be used 

in both salt water as well as fresh water. Jig fishing techniques have been used for centuries by European vessels 

fishing Icelandic, Newfoundland and North Sea fishing 

grounds. Many of the techniques used then are still in 

use today. 

Trawler. 

In recent years however, the advent of hydraulic or electric automated jigging machines has eliminated much of 

the manual labor required to haul fish from great depths. 

Modern automated jigging machines are 

equipped with a computerized motor which 

enables the machine to automatically haul in the 

catch when a specified weight of fish is hooked. This 

improves the efficiency and accuracy of the fishing system, and also reduces bycatch and discards. You are effectively catching a quality fish straight from the sea. 

Jig fishing is also extremely beneficial in the face of increased fuel costs as boats actually fish with the engine 

switched off. 

Crabber 

Crabbers target Dungeness, king, and snow crab using 

twine or wire-meshed steel pots (traps). Baited with herring or other fresh bait, the pots are left to soak for several days. A line extends from each pot to a surface buoy 

that marks its location. There are several configurations 

for the pots, though in general, the smaller round pots 

are fished for Dungeness in shallow bays and estuaries, 

and the large, heavy, rectangular pots are fished in waters deeper than 100 feet for king and Tanner crab. A 

power winch is used to retrieve the pots. Once aboard, 

a pot is opened and the catch sorted. Females and undersized males are discarded alive over the side and legalsized males are retained in aerated seawater tanks. 

come in a variety of 

shapes and sizes, from aluminum 

skiffs with outboard motors 

that fish the inside waters for 

Dungeness, to seagoing vessels 

of 100 feet or more that ply the Bering 

Sea and the Gulf of Alaska for king 

crab. Unless one happens to 

see a crabber headed for 

the fishing grounds with its 

decks stacked with pots, identification of a vessel as a crabber 

might be difficult for the casual observer. Crabs are delivered live to shore 

stations where they 

are cooked and 

then either canned 

or sold as a fresh or 

frozen product. A 

small number are 

sold live in local 

markets through 

retail outlets that 

have circulating seawater holding tanks. 

Longliner 

Longliners catch bottomfish, primarily halibut, blackcod, lingcod, and rockfish, via a long line that is laid on 

the bottom. Attached are leaders or gangions with baited 

hooks. Each longline can be up to a mile in length and 

have thousands of baited hooks. The lines are anchored at 

each end of each set. Lines at the ends run to the surface 

and are marked with a buoy and flag. A longline vessel 

typically sets several lines for a 24-hour soak. The lines are 

retrieved over a side roller with a power winch, and the 

fish caught are bled or dressed and then packed in ice in 

the vessel’s hold. Longliners are typically large vessels, 50 

to 100 feet in length, with a weather cover on the stern to 

protect the crew. The longlines are coiled and stacked on 

deck in tubs when not in use. Most vessels in this fishery 

can pack 20 to 40 tons or more of iced product before 

returning to port. Longliners are readily identified by 

their weather cover and, when not fishing, by the numerous orange buoys and 

flags that are tied along 

their rails. This fishery 

delivers its catch whole 

and bled (rockfish), or 

whole and gutted (halibut), or headed and 

gutted (blackcod and 

lingcod) for subsequent 

sale to fresh and frozen 

markets. 

Crab pots. 

Longlines. 

ADF&G Division of Commercial Fisheries 

P. O. Box 115526 Juneau, AK 99811-5526 

(907) 465-4210 • http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/ 

Images © 2008 Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute 

Updated April 2009