Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🎣 A fishing method 🎣 To catch with nets
gillnetting

gillnetting

7.4
A fishing method using nets that catch fish by their gills
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : pesca con red de enmalle
  • The debate about the environmental impact of gillnetting continues among conservationists.

Examples

  • Many commercial fishermen rely on gillnetting to catch species like salmon and trout.

  • Gillnetting is a popular fishing method used to catch fish as they swim into the nets.

  • In the summer of 1991, virtually all of the large lake trout were removed experimentally from the lake by extensive gillnetting.

    Academic text (1999)

Surface Forms

gillnetting singular
gillnettings plural

Morphology

gillnetting = gillnet (transparent) = gill + net + ing

Formed from the compound 'gillnet' (gill + net) with the productive gerund/nominalizing suffix '-ing'; the meaning is directly derived from its parts.

Etymology

Gillnetting comes from the parts gill ('breathing organ' on a fish) and net ('mesh for catching'). It creates a clear image: a net that catches fish by their gills as they try to swim through, which explains the word's meaning as a fishing method.