trawler

trawler, a fishing vessel specially designed to operate a trawl to catch bottom-lying fish. Sailing trawlers operated a trawl to a depth of 55–73 metres (180–240 ft), but a modern one powered by diesel engines can fish to the depth of 600 metres (almost 2,000 ft). The largest trawler afloat in 2004 was the 14,000-tonne Irish Dawn, part of the Irish fishing fleet. She is 144 metres (472 ft) long, with a beam of 24.3 metres (80 ft), and in addition to her trawls, she operates a purse seine net, which is reputed to be 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) in circumference and nearly 170 metres (550 ft) deep, to catch mackerel, sardines, and anchovies. She can freeze up to 300 tonnes of fish a day and has a storage capacity of 7,000 tonnes. With a crew of 100 she is nothing less than a floating fish factory.