Since there have been no significant technical developments in synthetic materials for fishing nets, for this second edition of the FAO Fishing Manual Netting materials for fishing gear the basic contents and the layout of the first edition (1973) did not need to be changed. There are, however, a fair amount of corrections, modifications and additions in order to up-date the material with particular regard to ISO Standards and developments in terminology. The author, therefore, hopes that this second edition will improve the usefulness of this Manual for fishermen and netmakers in the selection of the most appropriate kind and size of netting materials for the various fishing gears. The author wishes to express his sincere thanks to Mr. P. J. G. Carrothers (St. Andrews, Canada), Dr. E. Dahm (Hamburg, Germany) and Mr. Russ (Berlin, Germany) for their advice, as well as to the staff concerned of the FAO Fisheries Technology Service for the technical editing of this second edition.