Dictionary of Ichthyology  

purse seine = a seine used to encircle a school of fish in open water (contact with the bottom is avoided as the small mesh is easily damaged). It is set at speed from a large, powered vessel and the other end is anchored by a small boat. A purse line at the bottom (bag or bunt) of the net allows it to be closed like a purse. A purse seine can be 1 km long and 200 m deep.
Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, Lunenburg. Photograph by Brian W. Coad.

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