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mostly in rather deep water, several hundred fathoms. At night 

 here the fish leave the bottom and rise in the water, some right to 

 the surface, so that a trawl net which scrapes the bottom all the 

 time catches hardly anything then. As a result, trawling is profit- 

 able only by day, and as there is no anchoring in such deep water, 

 the vessel just drifts, and all night long she rolls and rolls in the 

 long Atlantic swells. A landsman finds this agonising and his only 

 hope of sleep is to wedge himself in. 



On our way out, some miles from shore, the skipper told me we 

 should soon be met by 'Blondie', a large seal well known to the 

 trawlers, easily recognised by a lighter patch on the side of the 

 head. Seals always turn up when the trawl net is being pulled in, 

 but apparently one or two of the more intelligent come and meet 

 the vessels on the way out, stay with them all the time they work, 

 and accompany them part of the way back. 'Blondie' had been 

 known for many years. Sure enough, there was a hail from the 

 bows soon after, and I saw this quite large seal puffing a welcome 

 as it easily kept up, appearing alongside at intervals. 



Most of the fish caught in a trawl are swept into a long bag in 

 the middle of the length of the net, the apex of which is known 

 as the 'Cod-end'. When the net is hauled up from the bottom, the 

 water pressure becomes less, the gas in the air-bladders of the 

 fishes expands, and usually before the rest of the net is up, the 

 * Cod-end' comes shooting to the surface and floats there, buoyed 

 by thousands of these distended bladders. Often they are so much 

 enlarged as to stick out of the mouths of the fishes, and look like 

 great swollen red tongues. 



As the mass floats on the surface, protruding tails fruitlessly 

 beat the water, and all kinds of the smaller fish are forced through 

 the meshes of the net. These provide a wonderful feast for the 

 snorting seals, which splash around, grabbing with gusto and 

 gobbling the dainties, seizing them crosswise, shaking them, throw- 

 ing them into the air, to make them easier to swallow. They have 

 clear-cut likes and dislikes, small Stockfish apparently being their 

 favourite, while the more abundant *Rat Tails' (Coryphaenoidid 

 fishes) are scorned. In this they are like humans, who will not eat 

 those perfectly wholesome but less-attractive-looking and quite 

 unfortunately named 'Rat Tails'. It is not only the seals that eat 

 their fill, but sharks soon gather round. At first they cruise cau- 



