TRAWLING. 53 



the extension of the mouth of the net without any 

 necessity for poles. The otter-trawl is much used on 

 board yachts, Imt does not meet with much favour from 

 professional fishermen. Their preference is given en- 

 tirely to the beam-trawl, which has been in use for 

 many years, and, notwithstanding some disadvantages, 

 has on the whole proved to be a productive and useful 

 implement of fishing. There is nothing to show when 

 the addition of the beam w^as first made to the trawl, 

 nor is it certainly known whence the idea originated. 

 There is some reason to think, however, that to Brix- 

 ham is due the credit of having first adopted it in this 

 country for deep-sea fishing, and possibly of having 

 introduced it, although we believe Barking also puts 

 in a claim to it. The commencement of the system 

 probably dates from some period in the last century. 

 Old fishermen at Brixham remember their grandfathers 

 being trawlers ; but the number of vessels and their 

 size were then small compared with those of the present 

 day, and we can obtain no further information on the 

 subject than that beam-trawling had been carried on for 

 a long time, or, as was said by one old fisherman, whose 

 chronological ideas were perhaps not very clear, " may 

 be from the time of Moses," — a possibility not quite 

 consistent with the general idea at Brixham, that beam- 

 trawling originated in that long-famous fishing port. 



The same method of fishing is general on the coasts 

 of Holland, Belgium, and France ; but the Dutch are 

 peculiar in using two trawls at once, one being towed 

 from the bow and tlie other from the stern of the 

 vessel. It is a question whether, taking the year 

 through, much advantage is gained from this system, 

 although undoubtedly large catches are made by it at 

 times. 



