63 



new nets and metliods in existence and in teaching their use. Not only 

 so, but the fisher folk have been tau^^ht tliat fish wliich used to be 

 caught only by customary methods nnil nets, may be also and more 

 readily caught by other nets ; e.g., formerly sardines used to be cauglit 

 only along shore (^as in this Presidency) with the seine ; the people 

 have now learnt to use the pur3e seine and other nets out at sea 

 for these fish [cf. the American catches oi the menhaden, a rela- 

 tion of the herring and sardine), and the purse seine " has been so 

 successful that it has become one of the important appliances for 

 sardine fishery and is now used in many provinces." '' Now-a-days 

 with improved boats and gear there is a tendency to seek this fish 

 further and further out at sea," a practice which i«i precisely that 

 suggested for the Malabar Coast in my i-ecent report ; the Japanese 

 found that instead of waiting for the fish to come and be caught it 

 was better to go and search for the fish and follow them up and use 

 new nets for their capture. Similarly, it appears that it is only of 

 late years that the pound net has been used for catching herring- in 

 Hokkaido, yet these nets are now largely responsible for the enormous 

 spring catches round that island. 



135. The Japanese use many classes of net, some being identical 

 with those found all over the world, such as the seine, the gill-net, 

 etc. ; some are common to Japan, the Mediterranean (Adriatic) and 

 parts of this presidency, e.g-, a bag net with wings towed by boats 

 against the tide like the Madras coast " thuri " ; some are special to 

 Japan, but not of sufficient importance for introduction. 



136. Three nets or traps will now be described. 



(1) The to-ami or simple cast net. This is used the world over 

 and nowhei'e more extensively than in Japan and India, but the 

 Japanese variety has an ingenious and deadly addition which I have 

 only seen on occasions in Madras, e.g., at Pulicat. The bottom is 

 heavily leaded as usual, but thin cords are attached to the circum- 

 ference, at every foot or two, which pass up the inside of the net and 

 out at the centre. When the net is thrown these cords are pulled and 

 draw the lower edge up into a bag in which the whole of the fish 

 within the circumference of the net are enclosed and taken. 



137. (2) Purse-seine — {agu?^l-ami). — This was introduced from 

 America and enormously increases the catching capacity of the 

 fishermen, since it can be used for all surface fish irrespective of the 

 depth of the sea. The ordinary seine can only be used inshore where 

 the depth is so moderate that the leaded foot of the net rests on the 

 bottom ; it is then either dragged ashore or, as used on the West Coast 

 for sardines, it is gradually worked up to the six or eight boats which 

 ring it round and the contents dipped or tipped out into the boats 

 But it is well known that sardine and mackerel shoals do not neces" 

 sarily come close inshore but are met with well out at sea in depth^ 



