What does trawling mean?
Trawling is the practice of fishing with a large, tapering net towed behind a vessel through the water. Nets may be dragged near the seabed, where they can collect commercially valuable fish or crustaceans, although bottom trawling may also disturb habitats and incidentally catch other marine animals. Trawling occurs widely in British and American English and is commonly associated with commercial and deep-sea fisheries. The word can also be used figuratively for searching through a large quantity of information or material, as in searching old records. This metaphorical use suggests persistence and breadth rather than a focused search. Trawling is related to the word trawl and to derivatives such as trawler, a boat used in this form of fishing. Together, these uses present trawling as both a concrete maritime activity and a familiar metaphor for exhaustive inquiry.
To fish by towing a large net through the water, or figuratively to search exhaustively through information or material.
"The crew continued trawling the bay despite the worsening weather."
Common constructions include “trawl for” a catch and “trawl” an area or body of information.
The activity or practice of fishing with a towed net.
"Deep-sea trawling remains controversial because of its environmental effects."
The noun is normally used as a mass noun or in attributive constructions such as “trawling vessel.”
The plural is uncommon; the activity is normally treated as uncountable.
"The archives contain records of commercial trawlings conducted along the coast."
A trawling net works like a moving sieve, gathering shrimp while sometimes sweeping up other marine life in its path.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does trawling come from?
Trawling is formed from trawl by adding the present-participle and gerund suffix -ing. The word trawl is recorded in Middle English and was borrowed from Middle Dutch, where it referred to a net used for dragging through the water. The English derivatives trawler and trawlerman developed from the same fishing vocabulary and share that origin.
Related word forms
How trawling is actually used
Literally, trawling is commonly transitive with a catch or area as the object, as in “trawling the seabed,” or intransitive with “for,” as in “trawling for shrimp.” The figurative sense carries a suggestion of an exhaustive, often repetitive search.
Easily confused with trawling
Trawling uses a large net dragged through the water to catch fish, whereas trolling involves trailing a line or lure through the water.