Fishing and Gear Technology

Unit 2 - Fishing gear materials

2.4.Identification of fishing gear materials
The synthetic fibre groups have well-defined characteristics which help us to distinguish it from other groups. These characteristics determine the suitability of a fibre for a particular fishing gear. The fisherman should be aware of the chemical group his net material belongs. Unfortunately it is very difficult to differentiate various kinds of synthetic fibres. There are less visual differences between the various kinds of synthetic fibres than there are in vegetable fibres and synthetic netting material can therefore rarely be determined by its appearance alone. If you know the trade name it is possible to find out the chemical group from trade-name lists. If this is not the case, several methods of identification may be applied. In the following, only those are considered which can be carried out easily and without elaborate techniques and apparatuses (with the exception of the determination of the melting point.). This excludes for practical reasons more elaborate methods which require expensive equipment and specific expertise such as microscopic examination and micro-photographs, staining with special dyes or reagents, determination of fibre density, as well as infrared spectroscopy gas chromatography and differential thermal analysis.
Finishing agents (pigments, colours, delustring and stabilizing agents adhesive substances, oil, starch, resin) used for dyeing stiffening and stabilizing the netting yarn, the netting, or its knots, may change the test results to be expected from raw and unfinished materials. They should therefore be removed from the specimen by a suitable simple treatment, taking appropriate care that the fibres are not unduly damaged. For instance, boiling in distilled water will often be sufficient.