Puretic power block
The Puretic power block is a special kind of mechanised
The Puretic power block revolutionized the technology of hauling
History
The power block was invented by a Croatian fisherman, Mario Puratić, and patented in 1953. In English, Puratić is usually incorrectly spelt Puretic, sometimes Puretich.
While he was working as a tuna and sardine fisherman from
Other important innovations of the same period were the development of
The use of power blocks was found to have further advantages. It is possible to fish in rougher weather with the power block, because the steady force exerted by the net stabilizes the vessel. When deployments are made which miss the schooling fish, the net can be rapidly retrieved and redeployed on the same school. The power block also makes it easy to get nets aboard in emergencies, such as a sudden shift in tides or winds, or shark attacks on the catch and net.[1]
On the other hand, the increase in the effectiveness of purse seine fishing led to herring schools choosing to school deeper in the water. Nets that could operate in deeper water needed to be bigger and heavier. That in turn meant bigger vessels, which pushed the smaller herring vessels out of business.[1]
Economic effects
Seine fishing industries rapidly recognized the value of the power block, and by 1960, most northern seine vessels were using the power block. Nowadays power blocks come with dozens of configurations and sizes. They are installed on over twenty thousand fishing vessels across the major purse seining fisheries around the world.[5] These fisheries haul huge schools of tuna, salmon, herring, sardines, anchovies and menhaden from the sea,[1] accounting for a large part the world's total fish catch.[6]
Between 1969 and 1979, the Puretic power block was pictured on the reverse side of Canadian five dollar banknote issues.[7] In 1975 Mario Puratić was given the National Inventor of the Year Award by the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation for his invention of the power block.[8]
A 2022 paper claims the reduction in
References
- ^ FAO, Rome.
- ^ FAO: Fishing Equipment: Power block. Rome. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
- ^ The Power Block FishBytes, December 1995. [dead link]
- FAO, Rome. Download PDF (56MB)
- ^ "MARCO, the Puretic power block, and Purse Seining". Fishing News International. Archived from the original on 2009-04-29. Download PDF (19MB)
- Rome.
- ^ Banknote > Canada > 5 Dollars > 1969-1975 Issue colnect.com, retrieved 17 October 2016.
- ^ Inventor of the Year Award: Past Awards Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation.
- ^
- Bennett, Nathan; Alava, Juan; Ferguson, Caroline; Blythe, Jessica; Morgera, Elisa; Boyd, David; Cote, Isabelle (2023). "Environmental (in)justice in the Anthropocene ocean". ISSN 0308-597X.
- This review cites this research.
- Clark, Timothy (2022). "Racial capitalism and the sea: Development and change in Black maritime labour, and what it means for fisheries and a blue economy". ISSN 1467-2960.
- Bennett, Nathan; Alava, Juan; Ferguson, Caroline; Blythe, Jessica; Morgera, Elisa; Boyd, David; Cote, Isabelle (2023). "Environmental (in)justice in the Anthropocene ocean".