As part of ongoing studies concerned with the small scale artisanal fisheries of the South of Portugal, experimental fishing was carried out with monofilament gillnets and small hook longlines within the same area. 62 species were caught, of which 20 were in common for both gears. Pronounced differences in terms of the relative importance of different species in the catches were observed. Size selection patterns also differed, with highly overlapped hook catch distributions and few species showing evidence for size selectivity. In contrast, strong selectivity was characterisitc of species which tend to be "wedged" in gillnets. Whereas smaller stretched mesh sizes (particularly 40 and 50 mm) caught significant numbers of illegal sized fish, this was minimal in the longlines. Some implications for management are discussed.