A lift net has an opening which faces upwards.
The net is first submerged to a desired depth, and then lifted or hauled from the water. It can be lifted either manually (hand lift net) or mechanically (shore-operated lift net), and can be operated on a boat (boat-operated lift net)
Lift nets are horizontal netting panels or bag shaped like a parallelepiped, pyramid or cone with the opening facing upwards which are submerged at a certain depth, left for a while, the time necessary for light or bait to attract fish over the opening, then lifted out of the water.
Several main types of lift nets can be distinguished:
portable hand lift nets (used, in general, with light attraction),
shore operated stationary lift nets.
Lift nets are hauled out by hand or mechanically through blocks. The handling (setting and hauling) of large lift nets, normally requires, in addition, one or several winches.
Boat-operated lift nets
Boat-operated lift nets are often used, in small-scale fisheries, from small catamarans (e.g. in inland fisheries, in Africa) or two canoes operating together.
Оther models of lift nets, larger (i.e. bag nets, "basing", in Asia) are handled, from large vessels, known as Lift netters. In some other cases no boats are required (for shore stationary installations).