42 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



tion by special manufacturers, who inspect them during the fishing-sea- 

 son, and take them to pices at the end of the autumn. 



In June and July, they fish for the salmon with seines 6 " sagenes " 

 long, (42 feet,) whose bag is 4 " sagenes" (28 feet) long and 3 " sagenes" 

 (21 feet) wide. The meshes of the bag are an inch square, and those of 

 the wings of the seine from 1£ to 2\ inches. These seines are also used 

 as stationary nets. The following is the method of fishing: One of the 

 fishermen remains on shore and holds the cord attached to the shortest 

 wing. The others gradually lower the net into the sea, standing at a 

 distance of several "sagenes" from each other. One-half of the net is 

 in a straight line from the shore, while the other half forms a large 

 semicircle, whose extremity approaches the portion under water in the 

 shape of a hook, in such a manner that there is a passage of 4 

 "sagenes" (28 feet) between the halves, which leads into the hook 

 above mentioned. As soon as one of the fishermen, who is on the out- 

 look in one of the boats, notices that a certain number of salmon have 

 entered the net, he detaches from the pole the cord keeping back that 

 end of the wiug of the net which forms the hook, and takes off the nip- 

 pers holding the bolt-ropes to the poles, so that the longer wing of the 

 net becomes free and can be hauled on shore by means of a winch. The 

 salmon which have been caught in the hook are in this manner forced 

 to enter the bag, which the fishermen afterward draw on shore. 



In the Petshora River, seines are used measuring from 250 to 400 

 " sagenes" (1,750 to 2,800 feet) in length. 



They first place a net on the shore in a perpendicular position and 

 fastened to poles, and then a second net is cast so as to form with the 

 first the letter T. At the ends, there are curtains of crescent or polygo- 

 nal shape, whose concave portion is turned toward what is called the 

 "wall," viz, the perpendicular net on the shore. The entrance is be- 

 tween two nets which join the stationary nets in a slanting direction. The 

 bottom of the apparatus where the fish are caught is likewise formed 

 by a net. 



When the salmon approach the shore, they meet the " wall" and fol- 

 low it till they enter into the apparatus itself, from which they cannot 

 escape. 



Other stationery nets, simple parts of nets, have only a single "wall," 

 and are placed on the shore in a perpendicular position. At the mouth 

 of the Petshora, one of these "walls" extends as far as five and even 

 seven "rersts" from the shore, (two and two-thirds miles to four miles.) 



Every net is from 40 to 50 "sagenes" (280 to 350 feet) long, with 

 meshes 3£ inches square, sixteen of which make the height of the net. 

 A certain number of these nets are tied together, the head bolt-ropes be- 

 ing fastened to poles driven in at a distance of 15 "sagenes" (105 feet) 

 from each other. The nets are examined at the time the tide is out, and 

 the salmon caught in the meshes are taken out. These nets are set dur- 

 ing the mouth of July, and taken up in September. They also use the 



