Italian to English Other Fisheries

I *think* this is the term (please read on!). It could be something similar sounding (balance? parancie? farancie?)

This is from a video. The guy speaking doesn't have many teeth left so it's quite hard to tell what he says; very hard actually. But I think the word is palance. He worked on a boat and is describing pointing out areas which should be dredged for bodies after a serious accident at sea. Here's some context:
"ancorotti e boietti... per mettere i segnali dove dragavano le palance"

Thanks very much in advance. :-)