310 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



of a few very abundant species such as menhaden and pilchard, with mass- 

 methods of capture requiring few men. 



In the catching of fish, however, some improvements have been made; 

 steam and diesel power have replaced sail, ice has replaced salt (with a 

 saving of man power at sea), and the otter trawl introduced in 1905, and 

 the V. D. modification in the '30's, have increased the efficiency, in terms 

 of man power, of the ground or bottom fishery in the North Atlantic and 

 practically created the shrimp fishery of the South Atlantic and Gulf (after 

 1908). The fathometer has aided the finding of fish, radio communication 

 has improved navigation and marketing, and some experimental work has 

 been done on the finding of fish with the aid of sonic echoes. With the 

 decline of hook and line fishing, the use of man power to produce bait has 

 greatly decreased. 



These improvements, however, are not what they might be. The capture 

 of fish has had little attention from trained engineers and scientists. A 

 perusal of History and Methods of the Fisheries (Goode et al., 1887, Sec. V., 

 Plates) reveals that almost all the methods then employed are still in use 

 now, with little change. 



Nets are still mere physical barriers or sieves made of vegetable fibres 

 such as have been in use for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years, and 

 depend on overtaking the fish by chance, as in trawling and seining, or on 

 the fish's wandering unawares into a trap or accidentally encountering a 

 gill net or biting a baited hook. Little exploration has been made of the 

 possibilities of the new highly resistant plastic materials, some of which 

 are transparent (nylon, vinylite, cellulose, acetate, etc.), as fibers or sheets 

 from which nets or other barriers might be made. Nor has extensive or 

 thorough study been made of the sense-reactions and behavior of fishes; 

 nor anything more than casual or occasional scientific attempt made to 

 take advantage of them as positive means of compelling or directing the 

 mass movement of fish into capture, such as submarine lights and lures, 

 chemical attractants, under-water sound waves and vibrations, electric 

 fields (which numerous fishes themselves use both offensively and defen- 

 sively) to shock, drive, or kill them; nor any biological studies of the habits 

 and behavior of fishes with the specific view to devising better ways of follow- 

 ing, finding, and catching them. Indeed the observation could be made 

 with some plausibility that the use of such improvements if made would 

 be forbidden by law or labor unions so that there is a general lack of 

 confidence on the part of inventors that their efforts would be fairly 

 rewarded even if successful.® 



9. Since the above was written, nylon gill nets have conie into use, furnishing a typical example, 

 as indicated by the following news item from the New York Herald Tribune, August i6, 1949: 



"Alarm. Fishermen continue to be impressed and supervisory authorities are reported to be 

 worried about the superior catching qualities of the new nylon nets, marketed under the name 



