To investigate the midwater trawl gear available for the Korean near sea trawlers, the authors carried out a field experiment on the attitude and the opening efficiency of the otter board with the Pusan 404 (160GT, 750ps), a training ship of National Fisheries University of Pusan. The experimental trawl gear was designed to be operable by the ship and the otter board was made of single iron plate with 12% camber ratio. The special-prepared potentiometric angle detector was used for determining the attitude, and the 50 KHz fish finder for the opening between the otter boards. The results obtained can be summarized as follows: 1. The angle of attack varied by moving the towing point on the towing plate of the otter board. It showed 33 to 36 degrees when the point was set at the outmost position, 25 to 31 degrees at the middle position and 19 to 30 degrees at the inmost position, with a decreasing tendency according to the increase of towing speed in each cases. 2. The heel of the otter board always occured inwards, increasing slightly according to the increase of towing speed. 3. The tilt of the otter board always occured outwards, increasing slightly according to the move of the towing point inwards, and decreasing slightly according to the increase of towing speed. 4. The opening between otter boards showed the largest value when the towing point was set at the outmost position.

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