# Commission Regulation (EC) No 517/2008 of 10 June 2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 850/98 as regards the determination of the mesh size and assessing the thickness of twine of fishing nets, Division 1: The mesh gauge shall:

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(a) automatically apply a longitudinal measuring force when measuring the mesh size of fishing nets;
(b) 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;
(c) be electrically driven or if battery powered it shall be capable of making 1 000 consecutive mesh measurements before requiring to be recharged;
(d) be able to apply selected longitudinal forces, in the range 5 to 180 N, to the meshes with a precision of 1 N;
(e) have a built-in system for measuring the applied force;
(f) be capable to stretch a mesh at a constant speed of 300 ± 30 mm/min by the movable jaw;
(g) be able to measure meshes from 10 to 300 mm and have detachable jaws for use on small and large meshes;
(h) have a measurement precision of 1 mm;
(i) have a structure which is rigid and shall not be distorted under load;
(j) be light yet robust and should weigh no more than 2,5 kg;
(k) be made of materials resistant to corrosion under marine conditions;
(l) be water resistant and unaffected by dust to standard IP56;
(m) be stable in operation over a temperature range of – 10 to + 45 °C;
(n) be able to withstand temperatures between – 30 and 70 °C during storage and transportation;
(o) 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;
(p) display that the gauge is ready for use and if not, display an error message, close down and cease operating;
(q) be possible to operate with one hand and the functions must be accessed via external buttons;
(r) show data on an integral display and present each measurement, the number of measurements made in a series, and the mean value in millimetres;
(s) store the data of at least 1 000 measurements in its memory and it must be possible to transmit data to a computer;
(t) contain a function to calculate the mean mesh size rounded to the nearest 0,1 mm;
(u) 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;
(v) save the data of all measurements made.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2008/517/annex/III/division/1 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2008-517/annex-III/division-1
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.