West Coast Groundfish Observer Program Manual, Part2 - NOAA

CHAPTER 5
• Sticks – Usually a rebar stake with a string of 4 or 5
hooks attached to it. Multiple sticks may be attached
to a single line or they may be fished individually.
• Skates / Tubs – Sets of longline gear often consist
of multiple segments of groundline tied together.
These segments are generally referred to as skates or
tubs (the line is frequently coiled into plastic tubs for
storage). When gear is set, the skates/tubs are tied
together. The ‘skate-knots’ that mark the break
between two segments of line are generally visible
during retrieval and may be used to distinguish
individual gear units.
• Poles – Standard fishing poles. Usually each pole
has two or more hooks.
Skate/Tub gear is the only type of hook and line gear
where it may be difficult to determine if a set has
multiple units. Differentiating between “single unit” and
“multiple unit” line gear is extremely important. In sets of
single unit line gear every hook must be sampled. In sets
of multiple unit line gear, it may be possible to get an
average hook count for the individual gear units so that
only a portion of the hooks have to be sampled.
Single Unit Line Gear:
To determine the amount of gear fished in a single unit line
gear set, it is necessary to count all the hooks.
Since with single unit line gear it is necessary to count all
fish caught as well as hooks, it can be extremely difficult to
get hook counts during retrieval. If it is necessary to weigh
fish during retrieval as well, it can be impossible. There are
several options for dealing with this situation. When
sampling single unit line gear observers should (in order of
preference):
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