Dredgemaster Lite for Single Dredge Vessels

Fine Tune Your Scallop Dredge

The Dredgemaster is proving to be an invaluable tool for scallop dredge vessels from Scotland to Massachusetts. Notus has introduced a new model of the system - Dredgemaster Lite. This new system is targeted at vessels fishing one dredge. The goal with this system is to allow every size vessel access to the new technology.

Dredgemaster Lite consists of a command unit/computer (in the wheelhouse), a hull mounted hydrophone, a single charger and one dredge sensor for measuring warp length, pitch (forward/backward tilt) and roll angle (side to side tilt). The communication between the sensor and vessel is wireless. The software and system have been designed for just one dredge (hence the name, Lite). This Lite package is priced to be affordable for any size vessel.

Being a new product, every Captain is finding a new way to use this invaluable tool. The FV Donna Marie provides a perfect example. A Dredgemaster Lite was installed on the FV Donna Marie owned by Cape Tip Seafoods of Provincetown, MA. Of course, Captain Willis King paid special attention to the warp length (monitored by Dredgemaster) and how these influence catch rates. Achieving “perfect pitch” on a dredge is key to better and more consistent catches.

However, Captain Willis recently relayed a new benefit he sees from Dredgemaster Lite. On the very first trip, the system solved a question Captain Willis had: why he had good catch rates on a N to S tow, but relatively poor catch rates on a S to N tow? With Dredgemaster Lite, he could see from the angles and depth, the dredge was sliding down the banks on S to N tows. The best catch rates came from holding the side of the banks. He can now easily do this with Dredgemaster.