102 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



when the net is new ; but after long use and frequent 

 barking or tarring it becomes contracted to an inch 

 or less. 



Twine nets are of stouter material and more lasting 

 than those made of cotton, but they are much stiffer 

 and heavier to work. They are usually made in 

 several narrow pieces called " deepings," which are 

 laced together, one below the other, there being three 

 or four deepings in the depth of a net, according to the 

 fancy of the fishermen. These nets are generally 

 barked once or twice in the season, but are never 

 tarred. There is still some diversity of opinion about 

 the comparative durability of the two kinds of material; 

 but there is no question that the finer the net is, if it 

 has sufficient strength for its purpose, the less likely the 

 fish are to be alarmed by its appearance, and cotton is 

 every day coming in more use on that account. 



Each drift-boat is supplied with two sets of nets ; one 

 having a much larger number of floats on the cork- 

 rope than the other, so as to keep it quite at the 

 surface when there is evidence of the fish being gene- 

 rally near the top of the water. The other net, and 

 the one most frequently used, has only a sufficient 

 number of corks to keep the back of the net uppermost, 

 and is supported at the proper depth by means of 

 ropes fastened to small kegs or buoys, technically 

 known as " bowls." 



It might be supposed that when it was desirable to 

 keep the nets at the surface it would be only necessary 

 to shorten the buoy-ropes ; but that has proved not to 



by law for herring nets, there was frequent occasion to measure them, as the 

 size of the mesh was constantly diminishing by the contraction of the twine ; 

 but since the passing of the Sea Fisheries Act, 1868, removing all restrictions 

 from fishing gear, the fishermen are left to their own devices, and have only to 

 take care that their nets are suitable for the kind of fish they desire to catch. 



