trawler

A vessel designed to drag a large bag-shaped net along or near the bottom of the sea to catch fish. Modern trawlers equipped with echo-sounder fish-finders and refrigeration to preserve their catch may be as big as 4000 gross tonnes.

A trawler is a fishing vessel designed for the purpose of operating a trawl, a type of fishing net that is dragged along the bottom of the sea (or sometimes above the bottom at a specified depth).

A trawler can also refer to a cruising trawler which is a recreational boat so named because it resembles a fishing trawler.

Sailing trawlers were limited to trawling at depths of 55-75 metres, but modern trawlers often trawl to 900 metres, with experiments having gone even deeper.

Refrigeration machinery aboard lets trawlers stay out for several weeks filling the hold.

In the Middle Ages, Brixham was the largest fishing port in the South-West, and at one time it was the greatest in England. Brixham is also famous for being the town where the fishing trawler was invented.These elegant wooden boats were invented in Brixham in the 19th century, and copied all over the world, influencing fishing fleets everywhere. In the 1890s there were about 300 trawling vessels here, each owned by one man who was often the skipper of his own boat

One of the biggest ports in England for trawlers was the city of Kingston upon Hull (or simply 'Hull') in Yorkshire on England's north-east coast.

The largest fishing port in Europe from the 1970's onwards has been Peterhead in the North-East corner of Scotland.

During World War I and World War II, many trawlers were used as minesweepers, the activities being similar, and both the crew and the equipment aboard already suited to the task.

During the Cold War, some countries often used trawlers outfitted with additional electronic gear to monitor the activities of their enemies: see spy ship.