Fishing dredge

Imagine you are playing in the sand at the beach and you have a toy basket with tiny holes in it. You scoop up a handful of sand with your bucket and shake it through the holes in the basket. The sand falls through the holes, but bigger things like shiny pebbles or shells get caught in the holes and stay in your basket.

Fishing dredges work kind of like your toy basket. Instead of sand, they scoop up things living in the ocean like clams and scallops. The dredge is like a big, heavy basket with a flat bottom and a mouth that opens up to scoop up the bottom of the ocean floor. As the dredge moves along the ocean floor, it collects everything in its path like a giant vacuum cleaner.

Once the dredge is filled, it is brought back up to the boat and all of the things that were caught are sorted, with the tasty seafood being kept and the rest being thrown back into the ocean. This process can be harmful to some sea creatures and their environment, so fishermen have to be careful and follow rules to make sure they are not taking too much and hurting the ocean's health.