Oceanographic research vessels: Defining scientific winches for fisheries science biological sampling manoeuvres

Studies on scientific winches installed on oceanographic/fisheries research vessels (ORVs and FRVs, respectively) are distinguished by the winches' unique design features and the important role they play with scientific experiments. It is impossible to draw general conclusions when analysing scientific winches used for fisheries sampling experiments on recently built ORVs. Few vessels are built each year and their dimensions and mission vary greatly. Thus, to consider the concept of traction factor and the possible ways in which equipment on fishing trawlers could be arranged and manoeuvred, a statistical analysis was carried out on newly built and refitted vessels from Spanish shipyards. The starting point was a sample of 125 boats, to which linear regression models were adjusted to explain the relationship between total traction and the traction for the fishing winch. As a result, three regression models-one for each kind of arrangement-were obtained. The next step involved analysing and modelling the dependence of the auxiliary winch traction on fishing winch traction.