Net Making and Fishing-Gear Repair Level 2

Who it is for. Trainees who have completed Level 1, or menders who can already load a needle, tie the sheet bend, knit a panel and mend a simple hole. National Proficiency II is the second level of Ghana's TVET framework. At this level you work under limited supervision: you plan routine jobs yourself and ask for help with unusual ones.

Bridge from Level 1: what you already know

If any box is not yet true for you, go back to that Level 1 unit first.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 70% of the time is practical. Every unit has a practical task, homework, worked exercises where there are sums, and a short Check yourself quiz.

Related courses in the hub. Fish Smoking and Processing (after the catch), Fish Farming (cage nets and pond nets), Outboard Motor Repair (canoe engines).

Competency standard

Range. At least three client nets of different gear types. Evidence. Net inspection reports; role-play; oral questions.

The rules, gear by gear

The Fisheries and Aquaculture Act, 2025 (Act 1146) repealed the Fisheries Act, 2002 (Act 625), but regulations made under the old Act stay in force until they are revoked or replaced. The Fisheries Regulations, 2010 (L.I. 1968) therefore still set the gear rules below. Act 1146 says the Minister must make new regulations, including on the types and sizes of gear, net sizes, where nets may be used and which nets are banned. Before you build or alter a net for sale, ask the Fisheries Commission whether new regulations have come out.

Banned methods for every gear: aggregating fish with light (generators, switchboards, bulbs beyond 500 watts or bulbs whose total light attracts fish, long cables, any light device), bamboo to aggregate fish, explosives, obnoxious chemicals, and pair trawling.

Under Act 1146:

• Holding banned gear within 2 km of the shoreline without written permission from the Commission is an offence (500 to 1,000 penalty units for canoe-scale vessels).
• Juvenile fish and egg-carrying or juvenile lobsters must not be taken; if caught by accident, return them at once.
• Damaging another person's gear: for canoe gear, 250 to 1,000 penalty units or 1 to 2 years, or both.
• Where no other penalty is set, the general penalty for a marine or inland canoe is 250 to 500 penalty units, and the catch and gear may be forfeited.

One penalty unit is GH¢12.

Minimum landing sizes

L.I. 1968 also sets minimum landing sizes. Fish smaller than these may not be caught, landed or bought in commercial quantities. Some species landed in the Western Region:

The main fish caught in Ahanta West District are the two sardines. A net that keeps catching undersized fish is a problem for the owner, even if its mesh is legal.

Choosing a mesh that suits the fish

1. Measure the fish. Tie a piece of twine round a fish of the size you want, just behind the gill covers. Slip it off and measure the loop.
2. Or use a rule of thumb for gill nets: mesh opening = K × greatest girth of the fish, where K is about 0.4 for long, thin fish and 0.44 for deep, short fish.
3. Check the law. Compare your answer with the legal minimum for that gear. If the answer is smaller than the legal minimum, the legal minimum wins.

Inspecting a client's net

Use this order every time, and write a net inspection report:

1. Owner and gear. Owner's name, phone, canoe name and canoe identification card details if shown.
2. Material. Multifilament or monofilament? PA or PE? (water test from Level 1).
3. Mesh. Wet, stretched, inside the knots, with a flat gauge or callipers; ten meshes in at least three places.
4. Legal check. Compare with the table above. Write "legal", "not legal" or "ask the Commission".
5. Size. Length of floatline, depth in meshes.
6. Condition. Holes (count and size), worn areas, sun damage, missing floats and sinkers, rope condition.
7. Markings. Under Act 1146 the Commission gives identification markings for a canoe and its fishing gear, and a marine canoe licence shows the gear's identification. Note any marks; never remove or hide them. Hiding markings is one of the signs the Act treats as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
8. Quote. Work needed, materials, time and price.

Refusing illegal work, politely

If a client asks you to mend a monofilament sea set net or make a net under the legal mesh:

1. Stay calm and respectful.
2. Explain the rule simply, and the fine.
3. Explain that holding banned gear near the shore is itself an offence.
4. Offer a legal option: a multifilament set net of 50 mm or more.
5. Write in your job book that you refused, with the date.

A 2023 report found that many fishers use monofilament because their elders did, without knowing it is illegal. Your explanation may be the first time the client hears the rule.

Check yourself

1. What is the minimum mesh for a small pelagic purse seine?
2. A handbook says 18 mm for sardine seines. Which do you follow, and why?
3. Name four things on a net inspection report.

Competency standard

Range. Twine labels, netting samples and rope in the training area. Evidence. Conversion sheet; one netting order; oral questions.

How twine is made

Fibres are spun or twisted into yarns; yarns are twisted into twine; twine is knitted into netting by machine or by hand. Twisted twine has an S or Z twist, depending on which way the spiral runs; too much twist lowers strength.

Twine numbering

Because R-tex is grams per 1,000 m, metres per kg = 1,000,000 ÷ R-tex. FAO describes one twine as "R 450 tex, 2,200 m/kg", and 1,000,000 ÷ 450 ≈ 2,222, which matches.

Choosing twine thickness for the mesh

FAO gives a rule for gill and entangling nets: twine diameter ÷ mesh size should be about 0.0025 in calm water with small catches, about 0.005 on average, and up to 0.01 in rough water or for bottom sets. Example: a 60 mm mesh × 0.005 = 0.3 mm twine on average; × 0.01 = 0.6 mm for rough water.

Thicker twine is stronger but more visible to fish and heavier to haul. On repair work, match the twine in the net.

Knotted or knotless netting

• Knotless netting is lighter, has less drag, and is stronger for the same twine because knots are weak points. It can only be made by machine.
• Knotted netting is the traditional material, is easier to repair, and the knots protect the rest of the netting from rubbing.
• Synthetic twines are smoother than old natural ones, so single knots may slip; some netting uses a double sheet bend or heat or chemical treatment to fix the knots.

Writing a netting order

A complete order to a supplier gives:

Colour. Bright nylon may be seen by fish in clear water, so gill nets are often dyed green, blue, grey or brown.

Rope

• Ropes for fishing are made from PA, PES, PP and PE, either laid (3-strand, 4-strand or cable-laid) or braided (tubular, solid, or 8-strand plaited).
• Size. Measure the circumference with a flat tape or a strip of paper at several places and take the average. Diameter = circumference ÷ 3.14. Rope weight is given in kg per 100 m.
• Floatlines and leadlines must be strong enough for setting and hauling but stay flexible; synthetic lines usually do the job.
• PP floats because it is lighter than water. That helps a floatline and hurts a leadline.
• A canoe without a motor must carry nylon rope of 24 to 30 mm with a chain cable.

Check yourself

1. What is 1 tex?
2. Why is R-tex bigger than total tex?
3. How do you find the diameter of a rope from its circumference?

Competency standard

Range. A practice net at least 20 m long; then a client set net. Evidence. Calculation sheet; finished hung net; observation.

The hanging ratio

The hanging ratio (E) compares the length of rope with the stretched length of netting hung on it:

E = rope length ÷ stretched netting length

Example: 10 cm of stretched netting hung on 5 cm of rope gives E = 5 ÷ 10 = 0.5. So 120 m of stretched netting hung at 0.5 makes a net 60 m long.

The hanging ratio decides how open each mesh is.

Rule of thumb for gill nets: below 0.5 the net tends to tangle fish and catches many kinds (most set nets); above 0.5 it tends to gill fish and is more selective (most drift nets).

How tall and how open is each mesh?

Two numbers describe the hung mesh:

• A (the hanging ratio): width of a hung mesh = A × mesh size
• B = √(1 − A²): height of a hung mesh = B × mesh size

(B worked out from the formula.)

Depth of netting needed, in meshes = wanted depth ÷ (B × mesh size).

Tie length

You do not tie every mesh to the rope. You tie a few meshes at a time (a "tie" or staple). Three meshes per tie is ideal but slow; ten meshes per tie is faster but less even.

Tie length = meshes per tie × stretched mesh × hanging ratio

Example: 10 cm mesh, E = 0.5, 3 meshes per tie: 3 × 10 × 0.5 = 15 cm. So every 15 cm of rope carries 30 cm of stretched netting.

Worked example from the handbook

A gill net 90 m long, 2.0 m deep, hung at 0.5, with 8.25 cm mesh. The netting comes 30 meshes deep and 85 m weigh 1 kg.

1. Stretched netting = 90 ÷ 0.5 = 180 m.
2. Weight = 180 ÷ 85 = 2.1 kg; the supplier sells in 0.5 kg steps, so buy 2.5 kg.
3. Depth: each mesh stands 0.87 × 8.25 = 7.18 cm, so 30 meshes stand 2.15 m. Enough.
4. Tie length at 3 meshes per tie = 3 × 8.25 × 0.5 = 12.4 cm.

Hanging a net, step by step

1. Prepare the ropes. Soak the floatline and leadline in water and stretch them to take out twists.
2. Measure and mark. Measure the lines and mark 1 m from each end of both. Then mark every tie length along the floatline with a felt pen or a twist of coloured thread.
3. Check the netting. The edge must be cut straight across the meshes. Count the meshes and find the run of the twine (Level 1).
4. Stretch the line. Tie 5 to 10 m of the line tight between two posts or trees at working height.
5. Start. Tie the hanging twine to the line at the first mark with a rolling hitch. Pass the twine through the first corner mesh and fix it to the line again further along.
6. Tie each staple. At each mark, pick up the right number of meshes and fix them to the line. Each staple should be at least as long as one stretched mesh.
7. Check as you go. Every 10 ties, count meshes and measure rope. If you are ahead or behind, correct over the next few ties, not all at once.
8. Repeat for the leadline. On some nets the leadline staples are a little wider so the leadline is longer: FAO's perch net uses floatline staples 10 cm apart and leadline staples 11 cm apart. Purse seines may have a leadline up to 10% longer than the floatline.
9. Ends. Leave about 1 m of free line at each end. If there are more than two or three extra meshes, cut them away.
10. Side ropes (gavels). On some nets a short rope is spliced into the end of the floatline and the side meshes are lashed to it, for example every 10 cm on FAO's croaker net.

Common mistakes

Check yourself

1. Write the formula for the hanging ratio.
2. At E = 0.5, how many metres of stretched netting make a 60 m net?
3. Does a low hanging ratio tend to gill fish or tangle them?

Competency standard

Range. A practice set net; diagrams and visits to a purse seine and a beach seine. Evidence. Buoyancy sheet; rigged net; oral questions.

Floats and sinkers: what to look for

• Round and smooth, so they do not catch the netting; floats of equal lift and sinkers of equal weight.
• Floats and sinkers are spread evenly along the lines.
• Weigh a sample of sinkers on a kitchen scale. Measure a float's lift: tie a known weight to it in a bucket of water and add weight until it just sinks (general practice, not verified).

Balancing the net

Step 1. Add up the lift. Count all the things that float: floats, and floating rope such as PP.

Step 2. Add up the weight. Count the sinkers.

Step 3. Compare with a rule of thumb for that gear:

The two bottom-set rules say the same thing in different words: if weight is 3 to 5 times lift, then lift is 1/3 to 1/5 of weight.

Step 4. Test in the water and adjust. Currents need extra floats and sinkers to keep a net upright; trial and error usually finds the right balance.

Worked example from the handbook

A bottom gill net 106 m long has PP lines giving about 1.08 kg of lift and 120 floats of 100 g lift, a total of about 13.08 kg. With 200 leads of 50 g (10 kg) it will not sink. With 300 leads of 50 g (15 kg) it is enough for still water.

Rigging a bottom set net, step by step

1. Do the balance sums and write them down.
2. Mark the float and sinker spacing on both lines.
3. Fix floats firmly at each mark on the floatline; FAO's croaker net has floats at the first and last staples and every twentieth staple.
4. Fix sinkers evenly on the leadline; FAO's croaker net places lead sinkers 50 cm (five staples) apart. Tie sinkers with natural-fibre twine so a lost net will rot free.
5. Fit end ropes, anchors and buoy lines as the owner uses them. FAO suggests anchors of about 10 kg stones or small iron anchors for its examples.
6. Water test with the owner.

The big canoe gears: what a mender should know

Purse seine (poli/watsa). A purse seine surrounds a school and is closed at the bottom by the purse line. The bunt is the part hauled last, where the fish collect. Rules of thumb from FAO:

• The purse line is about 1.5 times the seine's length.
• The purse line's breaking strength must be more than 3 times the combined weight of netting, leadline, leads and purse rings.
• In the water, the net's actual depth is only about 50% of its stretched depth at the ends and 60% near the centre.

In Ghana, these nets sit on large canoes of 12 to 19.5 m, and their mesh must be at least 25 mm.

Beach seine. A beach seine can be a single wall of netting or have a bag in the centre. It is hauled to the beach by bridles and ropes, and the wings may have a different mesh or twine from the bunt. FAO gives hauling bridles of about 6 mm for a 50 to 100 m seine and 14 to 16 mm for a 200 to 500 m seine, and headrope float lift of about 50 g per metre for a seine 3 to 4 m deep, rising to about 350 to 400 g per metre at 10 m deep. Beach seines may not be used in estuaries or marine protected areas.

Drift gill net. It drifts freely with the current; often one end is fixed to the canoe. In Ghana, drift gill net canoes target large fish such as skipjack tuna, swordfish and sailfish.

Trammel net. Three walls hung on the same lines: a slack inner wall of small mesh between two outer walls of large mesh. Fish are caught in a pocket of small mesh. FAO says the outer mesh is 4 to 7 times the inner mesh. Check the legal mesh rules with the Commission before making one.

Check yourself

1. For a bottom-set gill net, how many times the floating power should the sinking power be?
2. What is the bunt of a purse seine?
3. Why tie sinkers on with natural-fibre twine?

Competency standard

Range. Practice netting with complex damage; a torn seine or set-net panel from a client. Evidence. Mended and patched samples; repair records; observation.

The rules of trimming and mending

These rules let you plan a mend before you start:

1. Leave the starting three-legger where it lets you reach a sider on the other side of the hole.
2. You may go to a sider only when a square mesh is formed by making a single bar.
3. Each time you reach a sider, look for a pickup. If there is one, you must take it, and the next pickup will be straight opposite. If there is none, turn and go back across the hole to a sider.
4. You cannot go from one sider to another on the same side of the hole, but you can go from sider to sider when they are opposite each other.
5. You cannot make a pickup on a sider.
6. For a right-handed mender: moving left to right, pass the needle up through the mesh; moving right to left, pass it down. This stops the meshes twisting. A left-handed mender does the opposite.

Plus the two trimming rules from Level 1: cut out pickup knots completely; never cut out a sider knot, and leave its ends at least 1 cm long.

Diagonal tears

1. Start at the top. A starting three-legger is usually there.
2. Work down the left side, cutting out three-leggers.
3. Work down the right side, cutting out three-leggers, until one finishing three-legger is left at the bottom.
4. Mend from the start, following the rules: to a sider, the lower pickup, the upper pickup, a sider, the opposite sider, and so on, to the finishing three-legger.

Mark the start and finish three-leggers with coloured thread before you mend.

V-shaped tears: mend in two stages

1. Trim and mend the smaller leg of the V as far as you can, until there is no pickup or sider left to take.
2. Look at the hole that is left. Trim it again so it has a new start and finish three-legger; you may have to cut some of the bars you just knitted.
3. Mend the rest in the usual way.

This saves you cutting away and re-knitting a large flap of good netting. On a large hole spreading in several directions, two or more menders can work at the same time, moving towards each other.

Patching

When a hole is so big that mending would take too long, cut it out and sew in a patch of netting with the same mesh size.

1. Square the hole. Cut across, just below a row of pickups at the top and just above a row of pickups at the bottom, so a whole number of meshes is removed. Then cut down each side next to a line of siders, again leaving a whole number of meshes. Leave the siders as they are.
2. Cut the patch. Cut a patch with a whole number of meshes in length and depth, but one mesh less in each direction than the hole. For example, a hole with 4 meshes removed across and 3 meshes removed down takes a patch 3 meshes wide and 2 meshes deep.
3. Sew it in. Sew along each edge and sider down the sides in one continuous run. Two menders can share the work: one starts top left and works along the top and down the right side; the other works along the left and bottom.
4. Check that no three-leggers are left and that meshes match.

Square or rectangular holes and patches keep the work simple, because there are no three-leggers and you only sew and sider.

Checking a repair

Check yourself

1. Can you go from one sider to another on the same side of the hole?
2. How much smaller than the hole is a patch?
3. How do you deal with a V-shaped tear?

Competency standard

Range. 3-strand rope; nets and ropes at the training beach; one canoe. Evidence. Splice samples; gear register; safety check; oral questions.

Why splice

A person who knows splicing can turn in a splice almost as fast as tying a knot. Where a rope must pass through a block or sheave, a splice is needed to join two ropes.

The short splice (joining two ropes)

1. Unlay the strands at the ends of both ropes for a short way and tie a whipping to stop further unlaying. Whip or seal the end of each strand.
2. Put the two ends together so each strand of one rope sits between two strands of the other.
3. With a fid, marline spike or pointed stick, open a strand of the second rope and pass a strand of the first rope through it: over the strand next to it and under the second, coming out between the second and third.
4. Do the same with the other two strands.
5. Turn round and tuck the strands of the second rope into the first rope in the same way.
6. For a neat splice, cut away about half the yarns of each strand and tuck two or three more times, so the splice tapers.
7. Pull everything tight and cut off the ends.

Common mistake: two strands coming out under the same strand. Check after the first tuck that each strand has its own place.

The eye splice (a loop in the end of a rope)

Unlay the end as for a short splice, bend it round to make the loop size you want, and splice the strands into the rope's own standing part. Use it for anchor ropes, mooring lines and for fixing a rope to a ring.

The long splice and replacing a strand

• A long splice joins two ropes without making them thicker, so it runs through any block the rope runs through. Unlay the ends about four times as far as for a short splice. Learn it with your trainer.
• If one strand of a rope is worn or broken but the others are good, unlay and cut off the bad strand, lay a new strand of the same length into its groove, as in a long splice, and tuck the ends. Done well, the repair is as strong as the rope.

Protecting nets and ropes

• The sun's rays do the most damage to synthetic fibres. Dyeing makes nets last longer. Catechu can be used on PA nets; coal tar, bitumen and black varnish make nets stiffer, heavier, more resistant to rubbing and help the knots hold.
• Tar makes a net sink faster and stiffer. Ask the owner before you treat a net, because it changes how the net fishes.
• Natural-fibre preservatives such as wood tar and copper sulphate can change stiffness and strength.
• Keep wooden floats tarred or painted and bottle floats tightly plugged.
• Store nets stacked neatly, away from nails and sharp wood, shaded and covered.

Old and lost gear

• Lost nets, especially monofilament, keep catching fish as ghost nets.
• Act 1146 lists abandoned gear, including nets and cages, as a kind of aquaculture waste. Lost sea nets do the same harm.
• Bring old netting ashore. Reuse good pieces for patches, and ask the Assembly where to dispose of the rest. Never burn nylon in the open near homes (general practice, not verified).

Canoe safety equipment: a second look

From Level 1, L.I. 1968 requires life jackets for the normal crew on powered canoes and non-motorised canoes, and adds life buoys for powered vessels of 7 to 12 m, and life rafts, distress flares and a tow rope for powered vessels over 12 m. Large poli/watsa, ali and line canoes are 12 m or longer, so the over-12 m list applies to them.

A small canoe shows an all-round light at night or carries a torch and flare, and an outboard canoe carries a sail, rigging, paddles or oars. To get a marine canoe licence under Act 1146, the owner must show valid basic safety equipment and basic communication equipment, and insurance for the vessel and crew where applicable.

A gear register for a canoe

Help an owner keep one page per canoe:

Check yourself

1. When must you use a splice instead of a knot to join two ropes?
2. Name two things tar does to a net.
3. What extra safety equipment must a powered vessel over 12 m carry?

Competency standard

Range. The trainee's own planned service. Evidence. Price list; service plan; marketing plan; oral pitch.

Location settings that give good returns

Services and ingenuity

Pricing

Price = materials + labour + overheads + profit. Labour = hours × your hourly rate. Overheads are tools, knife sharpening, transport, phone and shade or storage rent, often added as a percentage.

Credit and records. Many owners pay after a good catch. Write every job in a job book with the date, owner, work, price and amount paid. Agree in advance when unpaid amounts are due, and do not start a new job for an owner who owes for three old ones (general practice, not verified).

Market yourself

• WhatsApp Business profile with a catalogue of services and prices; post before-and-after photos with the owner's permission.
• A free Google Business Profile so people find you on Maps.
• A sign at the beach: name, phone, "Mending · Hanging · Splicing · Legal nets only".
• Referrals from the chief fisherman, canoe owners' groups and fish traders who work with the canoes.
• A portfolio: photos of nets you hung, patched and spliced, and copies of inspection reports.
• Honesty about the law. Some owners will go elsewhere for illegal work. Many more will trust a mender who keeps them out of trouble.

Accessibility

The Persons with Disability Act 2006 (Act 715) protects the right of persons with disabilities to work. The District Assemblies' disability fund rose to 5% in 2026, with a shift to skills training, assistive devices and start-up capital. Our suggestions (not sourced; confirm with the learner):

A deaf mender works well with written job cards and hand signals agreed with the crew. A mender with low vision can use a notched gauge and feel the knots.

Check yourself

1. Write the four parts of a price.
2. Why can a monthly service plan be better than single jobs?
3. Name two jobs a person using a wheelchair can do well in a mending business.

1. Which law keeps the 2010 Fisheries Regulations in force?
2. What is the minimum mesh for a large pelagic purse seine?
3. Using K = 0.4, what mesh suits a fish with a 12 cm girth?
4. Convert 420 denier to tex.
5. A twine is R 500 tex. How many metres are in 1 kg?
6. Write the formula for tie length.
7. 150 m of stretched netting hung at E = 0.6 makes a net how long?
8. For a floating gill net, how does buoyancy compare with ballast?
9. Name two trimming rules.
10. A hole has 5 meshes removed across and 4 down. What size patch?
11. When do you use a long splice rather than a short splice?
12. Name four parts of a price.

Best next reads: Practical Twinework for Fishermen and Gear Technologists (University of Rhode Island), chapters on gill nets and net mending; FAO's Fisherman's Workbook; FAO's Fishing with bottom gillnets; L.I. 1968 and Act 1146; the hub's Fish Smoking and Processing, Fish Farming and Outboard Motor Repair.

What this module does not cover: building complete nets to order for large gears, supervising a mending team, running a gear shop, registration, tax and bookkeeping (see Level 3); canoe carving and outboard engines.

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.