Customer Focus: FV Janica II

Captain Genge has the following sensors: doorspread, warp lengths and catch. Doorspread is the distance between the doors. Warp lengths are the distances from the vessel to each trawl door (accuracy is better than 0.5 m). Catch indicates when the cod-end has filled to a specific amount.

The FV Janica II mainly targets shrimp on the west and northern coasts of Newfoundland. Typical depths range from 150 to 250 fa with warp lengths of up to 500 fa. Heavy tides and currents always play havoc with the trawl gear. Dirty water "slub" also has an impact on the trawl''s operation.

Captain Genge starts monitoring his trawl as soon as the doors hit the water. "Running the gear off is so much easier with Notus" he says. Notus sensors are omnidirectional so spread can be monitored during the entire shooting process. Once settled on the bottom, doorspread is still vital. "Slub makes the net go together. We were losing 50 ft of spread. This got so bad, we had to get a bigger set of doors." Captain Genge continues "We overspread the net with the new doors by 30 ft. We changed the towing point and got back to the spread we needed, 148-154 ft."

Notus clearly saves on fuel, especially when in tide. Captain Genge says "If we go 2.3 knots against the tide, the net will close 15-20 ft. We slack back 50-75 revs, down to 2 knots and the net opens back up again." He adds "We can run 2.6-2.7 knots going with the tide and keep good spread."

Notus is probably best known for measuring warp lengths. Captain Genge comments "When turning you can let back one warp to keep everything square. We''ve seen adjustments of 7-8 fathom when the warps are across the stern." He adds "We have not re-marked the warps since we installed Notus."

The catch sensor is another important sensor. For Captain Genge, the main advantage is "Catch sensors save on cod-ends." This year, catch rates were phenomenal in some shrimp areas. Catch sensors ensure the cod-end does not get destroyed by towing bags that are too large.