A trawler is an ocean vessel which pulls or drags fishing nets along in the ocean to catch fish in larger numbers. Some drag the sea-bed. They are biggeri than the normal fishing boat.
A fishing boat is a vessel used for fishing by casting nets into the sea. These nets are not dragged or trawled but thrown into the sea and then later ‘hauled’ back in with the day’s catch.There is more artistry and personal skill required in throw or cast fishing than in trawling, and indeed great stamina and resilience as the commercial small fishermen traditionally have had to stay out to sea in their small craft for days until they have a profitably marketable haul.
Barbados’ commercial fishermen are used to both trawling, on a small scale, and casting their nets for fish. Many years ago there was much debate concerning the efficacy of trawlers and their impact on the small boat fishermen and ocean resources. A fresh fish is always better than one frozen at sea and refrozen on shore, I used to hear, but modernization and technology ‘overhauled’ the industry.
Still, the net-throwing fisherman is the fisherman who has the better skills; and knowledge. He has a relationship with Nature and the Ocean that only few can come close to on their decked modernized trawlers.