Purse Seining with Power Blocks in Goa

Purse seine operation is highly labour intensive and requires about 25 to 30 crew members on board the fishing vessel for hauling the net and carrying out fishing operations smoothly. The length and depth of the purse seine net has been increasing over time and nowadays purse seine nets of length up to 1500 m with depth of the netting up to 120 m are used.

The hydraulic power block for medium sized purse seiners was introduced for the first time in the country by CIFT at Cochin under an Institute Project during 2011. The power block was installed on board the vessel M.V. Bharat Darshan, 21.2 m L_OA, 193 Hp at Cochin belonging to a Fishermen Co-operative Society. Based on the request from Department of Fisheries, Goa, a hands on training programme on “Power block aided purse seining”was organized at CIFT, Cochin to the fishermen from Goa during 10-13 April, 2012. 

The training programme has shown encouraging results as about 15 steel purse seiners at Goa have hydraulic power blocks installed in the vessel.  Most of the power blocks are imported. However few private parties at Cochin and Kanpur have started fabricating indigenous power blocks. The cost of full set of power block is approximately Rs. 7 lakhs.  With the power block installed in their vessel, the fishermen will be able to operate more number of sets on a single day as the time required for hauling the net will be considerable reduced. The use of power block will substantially reduce the drudgery of the crew on board. As there is acute shortage of skilled crew in purse seiners, the use of power block on board can reduce the number of crew taken on board for hauling the net. Many fishermen from Karwar, Bhatkal, Malpe and Mangalore have also evinced keen interest in the power block.