284 THE SEAS 



catching the menhaden, which is a close ally of the herring, 

 and the mackerel. A shoal of fish is surrounded in the 

 same way as with the pilchard seine, but the net is made 

 so that a rope can pull the bottom edge of the net together 

 like the mouth of a purse so that the fish are completely 

 enclosed in a basket of netting. 



Lining 



Fishing with hook and line is a method used extensively 

 in some parts for cod. The cod-fisheries of the Newfound- 

 land Banks are world famous and no more vivid description 

 of the arduous life of the fishermen in those waters can be 

 found than in Mr. Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous. 



But the actual method of fishing by hand line, given in 

 that book, has been largely superseded now by the use of 

 long lines carrying anything up to 3,000 hooks each. 



The vessels employed are mostly sturdy sailing craft, 

 and each carries eight small rowing boats known as dories. 

 When the banks are reached the dories are put out to lay 

 their lines. The lines are baited with squid, herring, or 

 capelin, and are each fifty fathoms long with about ninety 

 hooks. Nine of these lines are coiled in a tub, and each 

 dory carries four of the tubs. When fishing, all the 

 lines are often joined end to end, making up one long 

 line 3,600 yards long. In this way the eight dories of one 

 fishing schooner may lay as much as sixteen miles of line. 

 The hooks are attached at intervals along the line to short 

 snoods about two feet long. These lines may be set in 

 the morning, when they are hauled up three hours after- 

 wards, or in the afternoon when they are allowed to remain 

 down all night. 



The fishing is carried out along the Newfoundland coast 

 and on the Newfoundland "Banks" (Plate 102), in depths 

 between fifteen and 130 fathoms. 



