64 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



that part of the net must necessarily be opened by this 

 expansion. It is also the case that the water flowing 

 into the cod, and being unable to escape readily through 

 its walls, forms return or eddy currents along the sides 

 into the pockets, keeping them open more or less 

 throughout their length, according to the extent of 

 pressure, and so helps to move the fish in that direc- 

 tion. Several kinds of fish are often found in the 

 pockets ; but the special advantage of these parts of 

 the trawl is in securing the soles, which in their endea- 

 vours to find some quiet resting-place try every means of 

 escape from the net. When the fish have once entered 

 the pockets they move on to the end, where they are 

 powerless, and the successive additions from the " cod " 

 often result in the pockets being well packed with fish. 



It has been objected that pockets are useless, and that 

 they only hold a certain number of fish, which would 

 otherwise be found in the cod. But it is believed by 

 professional fishermen, and we think with reason, that, 

 independently of the fish being practically secured by 

 the pockets, the whole contents of the net are turned 

 out in better condition from the weight of the fish being 

 distributed over a larger space, and not subjected so 

 much to the irregular knocking about to which they 

 are more or less liable when there is a heavy load at 

 the end of the net. They also escape being crushed 

 when, as sometimes happens, large stones find their 

 way into the cod. These points are not of so much 

 consequence when the trawl is only worked for an 

 hour or two at a time; but as the deejo-sea trawlers 

 habitually keep their nets down for five or six hours 

 continuously, considerations of this kind should not be 

 lost sight of. 



The proportions we have given for the difterent parts 



