otter trawl

noun

1. a trawl net equipped with otter boards.

Word History and Origins

Origin of otter trawl¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

The previous day’s task had been to survey fish in the Caballones Channel, west of the archipelago, using an otter trawl, a large net with two wooden “doors” to keep it open.

From New York Times

Task 4: The otter trawl, which was dragged along the sea floor to capture fish and invertebrates - because an otter trawl pulls up sponges, sea fans and other organisms attached to the bottom, each tow is limited to 20 minutes.

From Washington Times

“It was a great opportunity working with all the equipment we’ll be using on an actual job on a research vessel. But I’m conflicted about the otter trawl. It rips up the bottom, but it’s neat to see what we bring up.”

From Washington Times

The benefit of the otter trawl for fishers was that it could catch groundfish like cod, not just the flatfish scared up by the beam trawl.

From Scientific American

The classic beam trawl was also increasingly joined by the otter trawl, a modification that keeps the front of the net open with steel or wooden doors that gouge out huge furrows and send up an opaque cloud of mud, rocks, seagrass, and anything else that might be in the path of the net.

From Scientific American