Trawl Door Research and Development

This program was designed to replace the hydrodynamically inefficient aluminum and wooden trawl doors on the shrimpers' nets with more efficient designs. Specifically the slotted polyvalent and cambered doors will be used to promote fuel conservation and reduce operating costs while having no more environmental degradation than the original design. This testing was the first of its kind in the southeastern region of the United States, and the results were more successful than initially expected. During the preliminary tests, it was found that boats used 50% less horsepower while maintaining the same level of drag pull. Such a cutback could result in a sizeable decrease in shrimper overhead, and an abundant reduction in fuel emissions.

Picture of the aluminum doors common to most shrimper boats

Poly Ice Doors

Dr. Burke Huner and DNR's Timothy Wright in front of a poly ice door

Dr. Burke Huner taking readings on types of catch