FISHES AND MANKIND 



393 



sailing or rowed round the shoal in a circle or half-circle, and 

 this is finally hauled into the boat by the use of a special winch 

 or is towed ashore (Fig. 139). In the days when the Pilchard 

 industry flourished on the Cornish coast, deep seine nets were 

 used to surround the shoals, which were paid out by rowing- 

 boats and drawn slowly to the shore. The shoals were sighted 

 by men known as "huers" or "balkers," who raised the cry 

 of " Hev-ah, hev-ah! " when the fish were seen, and who received 

 about three pounds a month and a share of the fish caught. 

 The Purse Seine is a net extensively used in America for 

 catching the valuable Menhaden. 



The Danish Seine or "Snurrevaad" is another important 

 type of net, the use of which has been much developed by 



Fig. 140. STEAM DRIFTER FISHING. 



British fisheries in recent years. In many respects it lies midway 

 between the trawl and the seine. Over a mile of warp is 

 attached to each wing of the net, which may have a span of one 

 hundred and sixty feet or more, and a large bag of some fifty 

 to sixty feet in length. It is not hauled ashore, but is worked 

 from a boat in offshore waters. 



Drift nets are worked on a very different principle to the 

 trawls and seines, and are not actually approached to the fish. 

 At the same time, they differ from fixed nets and traps in that 

 they are attached either to a slowly drifting ship (hence the 

 name) or to a floating buoy, and move with the ship or buoy 

 under the influence of the tide and wind (Fig. 140). The types 

 of fish caught with the drift nets are those which spend their 

 time swimming in the layers of water above the sea -floor, 

 keeping, as a rule, fairly deep down during the day, but 



