Division 1 The mesh gauge shall:

automatically apply a longitudinal measuring force when measuring the mesh size of fishing nets;

have two jaws, one fixed and one movable, each 2 mm thick with rounded edges with a radius of 1 mm to ensure that the jaws slip easily over the twine as shown in figure below;

be electrically driven or if battery powered it shall be capable of making 1 000 consecutive mesh measurements before requiring to be recharged;

be able to apply selected longitudinal forces, in the range 5 to 180 N, to the meshes with a precision of 1 N;

have a built-in system for measuring the applied force;

be capable to stretch a mesh at a constant speed of 300 ± 30 mm/min by the movable jaw;

be able to measure meshes from 10 to 300 mm and have detachable jaws for use on small and large meshes;

have a measurement precision of 1 mm;

have a structure which is rigid and shall not be distorted under load;

be light yet robust and should weigh no more than 2,5 kg;

be made of materials resistant to corrosion under marine conditions;

be water resistant and unaffected by dust to standard IP56^f1;

be stable in operation over a temperature range of – 10 to + 45 °C;

be able to withstand temperatures between – 30 and 70 °C during storage and transportation;

be controlled by software which should provide a menu of functions and enable the gauge to self-test the electronic and mechanical parts when started;

display that the gauge is ready for use and if not, display an error message, close down and cease operating;

be possible to operate with one hand and the functions must be accessed via external buttons;

show data on an integral display and present each measurement, the number of measurements made in a series, and the mean value in millimetres;

store the data of at least 1 000 measurements in its memory and it must be possible to transmit data to a computer;

contain a function to calculate the mean mesh size rounded to the nearest 0,1 mm;

incorporate software having a function to automatically select the largest diagonal of each mesh to calculate the mean mesh size of the square mesh netting;

save the data of all measurements made.