Trawling is one of the efficient techniques employed for the exploitation of prawns in the shallow waters of Cochin area. During the initial stages trawls mainly of four seam type was operated by small trawlers.

To meet the ever increasing demand of shrimps in foreign countries the fleets size and total effort have increased. As a result of intensive fishing, since 1977 a downward trend in the CPUE was observed. In order to increase the catches and shift the emphasis from prawns, attempts were made to develop new trawls to catch off-bottom quality fishes along with prawns. Experiments were also carried out on fish trawls for exploiting the shallow water resources. This paper traces the various efforts made in this direction and gives the designs and construction details of the gear operated in Cochin.