John Oliver Borley

“ The essential principle of the working of the drift-net is that it forms a long wall or barrier of netting hanging for a few fathoms perpendicularly in the water, but extending for a great length horizontally, and that the fish, meeting these nets and trying to pass them, become meshed; they force their heads and gill-covers through the meshes, but can go no farther; and as the gill-covers catch in the sides of the mesh, the fish are unable to withdraw and escape. Whether it be mackerel, herring or pilchard, the manner in which the net works is the same ”

“ If fish is believed to be present the vessel is sailed slowly before the wind and if possible across the tide; then the net is shot or thrown out over the vessel's quarter, the men being distributed at regular stations, some hauling up the net from below, others throwing it over and taking care that it falls so that the foot is clear of the corked back; others, again, looking after the warp which has to be paid out at the same time, and seeing that the seizings are made fast to it in their proper places. ”

“ In rough weather, as the strain may be greater, more rope is used. The first net in the train is often hauled after an hour to enable the men to judge whether the position is a good one. When the whole are hauled, the nets are taken in and the fish shaken out in the same orderly way as in shooting, each man having his own proper duty.
The sailing drifter is fast disappearing, giving place to the steam drifter. These vessels, though costing far more (£2500 to £3000 against £400 only) catch more fish, have a greater radius of action, reach market more quickly and are independent of weather. ”

“ The trawl being in proper position, the warp is allowed to run out and the trawl lowered to the bottom, the vessel slowly moving on meanwhile; usually the length of warp which is below the surface in towing is a few fathoms over three times the depth of water. The art of shooting the trawl lies in causing it to alight on its runners or shoes, with the net freely trailing behind: should the net be twisted, or the trawl alight on its beam, the trawl has been shot “ foul, " and must be hauled and shot again. ”

“ The seine is far more used in the United States than in the British Islands, its operations being so successful that complaints have in some cases been made that local fisheries for certain species have been entirely destroyed owing to the diminution of the fish which it has brought about. It is used in water of any depth, for the purpose of catching mackerel. Rings are fastened to the ground rope, and by means of a rope passed through these rings the lower margin of the net is drawn together, converting the circle of netting into a complete basin shaped purse. ”

“ According to certain recent by-laws of the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries District Committee, for instance, every trawl used in their waters, except for the capture of shrimps and certain specified fish, must allow a square wooden gauge of a certain size to pass easily through its meshes when these are wet. The difficulties in the way of the efficacy of such restriction are that a mesh which would allow the escape of fish of but little value of one species might allow the escape of very valuable individuals of another kind ”

“ Johnstone [2] has found for instance that in a two mile haul of a shrimp trawl on the Lancashire coast 567 small plaice are caught on an average, beside great numbers of whiting, dabs, soles and other fish. In most parts of the English coast regulations are in force as to the mesh, size of beam and length of haul of shrimp nets, and shrimpers working on the beach are ordered to sort their catch at the water's edge, returning as many young fish alive as possible. The proportion saved by these means is not known with accuracy; it is much greater in the case of short hauls than in longer ones. ”

“ The fish which may be disturbed by it have therefore no chance of escape at either the sides or top of the net unless they can pass through the meshes, and as the outlet under the beam is a long way past them, and is steadily moving on, sooner or later they mostly pass over the ground rope and find their way into the funnel-shaped end of the net, from which a small valve of netting prevents their return. ”

“ A trawl board is practically a kite made to move on its side.
The trawl boards resemble massive wooden doors strengthened by iron bands. In action they move with their short edges vertical and their long edges horizontal, one in each case in contact with the sea bottom: the front bottom corner of each board is rounded off, so that the board resembles a sleigh runner. Four strong chains, which meet in one iron ring, are attached to each board by ring bolts, and to each ring a wire warp, by which the trawl is towed, is shackled. ”

“ Here the remain for several hours till the tide slackens, the vessel’s sail; being all taken in and onl one hand being left on deck to keep watch. The way in which the fish are caught hardly requires explanation. The sprats, swimmin in immense shoals, are carried by the tide into the open mouth OF the net and then on to the small end, where they are collected in enormous numbers; from this there is no escape, as the crowd is constantly increasing, and they cannot stem the strong tide setting into the net. ”

“ A small trawl is often used from an open boat for shrimping. It closely resembles a beam trawl, but has no pockets. The usual dimensions of this net are about 15 ft. beam and 20 total length, of which about 4 ft. are taken by the cod end. The mesh is about half an inch square, but where no restrictions are enforced it decreases to a considerably smaller size as the cod end is approached. The beam when in use is about a foot and a half above the ground. ”

“ On each side of the deck a square enclosure called a pound is made for the reception of the fish falling from the cod end, by fitting planks turned on their sides into stanchions grooved for their reception. ”

“ The drag lines are then brought back to the smack for hauling. By this method plaice are captured alive, and are kept in large floating fish-boxes until required.
Next in importance to trawling among the English fisheries is the use of drift-nets for mackerel, herrings and pilchards. It is undoubtedly the most common method of net-fishing on the coasts of the British islands, but nowhere is it so general as in Scotland. There are, however, great drift fisheries on the eastern and southern coasts of England, Drift Nets. ”

“ All nets are constructed in accordance with what is known of the habits of the fish they are designed to capture; and as fishes may be roughly divided into those spending at least the greater part of their lives on or near the sea-bottom and those spending a great portion of their lives near the surface, two lines have been followed in the development of nets, some being designed to work on the bottom, others to work near the surface. ”

“ The successful shooting of the net is a matter of great skill. The paying out of the net, the lowering of the boards, the running out Working of unequal lengths of the two warps to square the the Net trawl into proper position and the subsequent lowering of the whole to the bottom, resemble the correspondingWorking
the Net. operations with the beam trawl. The fore warp is then drawn close to the quarter of the vessel and shackled to the after-warp close to the vessel’s side, and the vessel proceeds on her course at a speed of some 21/4 or 21/2 m. per hour. ”

“ This net is very deep in the middle, and as the foot rope is drawn well in in hauling, a floor is formed for it as it approaches the boat from which it is worked, a simple form of purse or bag resulting. The pilchards are dipped out in large baskets. In a good catch this process of “tucking” out the fish may be carried on for some days. The long seine used may be 200 fathoms long, and is about 6 fathoms deep at the ends and 8 fathoms in the middle. The tuck-net is about 80 fathoms long, 8 deep at the ends and 10 fathoms in the middle. ”

“ But this resistance directly acts only on the interior of the body of the net between the pockets and then on the purse; it does not at first expand the pockets, but tends rather to flatten them, because they are virtually outside the general cavity of the trawl and their openings face the father end of it. The water, however, which has expanded the body of the net, then passes under or through the fiapper or valve, and enters the purse, which, being with a much smaller mesh than the rest of the net, offers so much resistance that it cannot readily escape in that direction ”

“ The beam trawl may be described as a flattened conical net whose mouth is kept open when in use by a long beam supported at the ends by iron runners, the trawl-heads. Elm is generally preferred for the beam, selected if possible from timber grown just to the proper thickness, that The Beam Trawl.the natural strength of the wood may not be lessened by more trimming or chipping than is absolutely necessary. If the required length and thickness cannot be obtained in one piece, two or even three pieces are scarfed together, and the joints secured by iron bands. ”

“ While unimportant compared with the huge quantity of fish landed from sea-going vessels, the catch of the in-shore nets described is of importance in respect of the kinds of fish taken, whitebait and pilchards, for instance, being not otherwise obtained, while salmon, tough taken in rivers as well as in estuaries and along the coast, is very rarely captured at sea. ”

“ Hauling, a most lengthy and laborious process if, carried out by hand-windlass, is in practically all modern fishing smacks carried out by a small steam capstan, the “steam man” as it is frequently called, a most efficient instrument with very compact engine housed under a small iron cover on the capstan’s top. ”

“ It has been calculated that a thousand square feet of herring netting used by a steamer catch 431/2 cwt. of herring, while a sailing vessel catches 20 cwt. with the same area of nettin; and the steamer-caught fish, being more quickly delivered, fetches a better price. It may be noted that of recent years herring have been caught at the bottom in considerable quantities by the trawl. The fishing of herring is thus increasing in variety of method, as well as in intensity. Such sailing boats as tend to remain are long shore boats, and such drifters as have been fitted with petrol motors. ”

“ TRAWLING, SEINING AND NETTING. The innumerable kinds of fishing nets which may be distinguished, if all nets differing in details of structure or use be placed in separate classes, fall naturally into two main groups, namely stationary nets and nets used in motion. ”

“ A shrimp trawl is usually kept down from half an hour to an hour, or when not subject to regulation rather longer. It is seldom towed for a longer period than 2 hours, the speed being somewhat under two miles per hour on an average, though subject to variation. ”

“ In essence it is a long strip of netting with a buoyed headline and weighted ground rope. It is taken out in a boat some little distance from the shore, paid out during the boat’s progress, and the lines attached to the ends being then brought back to the shore, the net is hauled up on the beach. From this simple form, which is still in use for the capture of smelts and other small fish, numerous developments have occurred. ”