384 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Sanlt Ste. Marie, -Mich., are taken by the same primitive device by the native Indian 

 fishermen, whose birch canoes may be s 'en at almost any time far out in the foaming 

 rapids, manned by two men, one poling the canoe steadily up stream, the other stand- 

 ing- in the bow dexterously scooping - the fish from the quiet pools behind the bowlders 

 and rocks. In South Carolina also this form of net is used to captuie shad in very 

 much the same way as the Pacific coast fishermen take the salmon, that is, by con- 

 tinually plunging the net at random into. the swift-running current, from a position 

 on the bank of the stream, in such a way that one or more of the large numbers ot 

 fish passing upward to the spawning- grounds may run into it. 



The Columbia River salmon wheel is an application of the dip-net principle; and 

 the dip net used in combination with bait you may find in all sections of the country. 

 Scores of them are in operation all summer long from docks about Chicago, supplying 

 anglers with fine strings of perch for exhibition purposes at very reasonable prices. 



The hook we all know is more extensively employed than any other device in the 

 commercial fisheries, notably in the cod fisheries. 



The cast net is found in common use along the southern coasts, more especially in 

 Florida and the Gulf Coast States. Seines, pounds, and gill nets are three forms of 

 apparatus of paramount importance in the American fisheries. 



The trammel net is used chiefly in the great rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. 

 It forms one of the most important means of capture in the market fisheries of the 

 Mississippi. The fyke is used in the same section of the country perhaps more exteu 

 sively than in any other part, but this net is to be found on all the seacoasts and in 

 the lakes and rivers. 



The beam trawl, as we have intimated, has not been profitably employed here, 

 but its use is known, and the same principle is applied in the oyster dredge. It is 

 not our purpose, however, to discuss the methods employed in the shellfish fisheries. 



Having referred generally to the various kinds of nets used in American waters, 

 and supposing that all here present are familiar with the principles employed in their 

 construction, it may nevertheless be proper to describe, very briefly, those which are 

 of most importance. 



Seining has been applied in America, as we believe it has nowhere else, to the 

 offshore deep sea fisheries, by means of a contrivance for pursing the net. In the mack 

 erel, menhaden, and salmon fisheries the purse seine is most extensively employed. 



The menhaden purse seine is from 150 to 200 fathoms in length, and from 50 to 75 

 feet in depth. It is hung to double lines at the top and bottom, one right and the 

 other left laid. The top line is fitted with corks sufficient in number to sustain the 

 weight of the seine and rloat at the surface. At intervals along the bottom of the net 

 iron or brass rings, about 3£ inches in diameter ami a little less than one pound in 

 weight, are attached to the hanging line. The purse line— Russia bolt rope, If inches 

 in circumference — is passed through these rings. Two seine boats are used in oper- 

 ating the net, half of which is stowed in each boat. The boats are towed behind the 

 iishing steamer, while cruising about in the waters where menhaden are known to be, 

 until a school of fish is sighted at the surface, when they are manned and put off. 



Having reached a proper position near the school of fish, the boats are rowed 

 around it in a circle, starting in opposite directions, the seine being paid out as they 

 proceed. When the fish are surrounded the crew of one boat enters the other, and 

 all hands proceed to purse the seine — that is, to close the circle formed by the lower 



