Thank you for all your comments people, keep them coming.

Regards,

JULIAN
AUSSNAP

Hi julian, your Snood Snap invention is awesome. Tom

Interesting information and site, Thank you. Mal

Love the site, am a professional commercial fisherman myself.

Hello Jeremy Thompson and M Somers. The history of the name of the product is long and fascinating. Please bear with me. The origin of these clips is lost in the past. I know of two designs, the one we make and another based on a shepherd's crook. The shepherd's crook died when monofilament replaced rope. These clips have always been know around the world as snaps or branch snaps. Just after world war 2, an engineering company at Cowes on the mouth of Westernport Bay, Victoria, set itself up to make clips to the current design to service shark fishing in Bass Strait. Because of the fishery they serviced the name became shark clips, and it has stuck widely in Australia. The previous name for AUSSNAP was WA (for Western Australia) SHARK CLIPS. We changed it when we began to move out into the world. While we prefer to call the product we make for oyster farmers "basket clips" we regularly get calls from growers in South Austrtalia and Tasmania for "shark clips for oyster baskets."
Our new product for the mussel industry replaces a "string" snood currently widely used. Because we expect it to be used right around the world we have named it "snood snap."
To M Sommers I would say I expect a Kiwi would use branch snaps or branch clips. Indeed the manufacturer at Tauranga calls them snaps. but he knows to use shark clips when talking to me, but a Victorian, never. As for the Tasmanian, well his term is just and abbreviation. The only Australians I know who speak of snaps are the Customs Department, where they use the name from the country of origin.

Hi, We always call them branch clips in Victoria and New Zealand, but I have a frien in Tassie and he just calls em 'clips'. They catch fish and I like the longevity mentioned of yours on this website. Good debate though!!

I would be grateful if you could provide me with the background to the reason why both names are used. I prefer shark clip because that's what we would like to catch!! J.T.