DRIFT-NET FISHING. 1 1 5 



is generally very unfavourable for fishing, altlioug-li we 

 have seen moderate hauls made under such circum- 

 stances. The water is then usually too clear and the 

 nets are too distinct for the fish to strike freely ; and 

 beautiful as is the appearance of the illuminated nets 

 as they are drawn through the water, the fishermen 

 generally have good reason to expect the result of their 

 night's labour under such conditions will not be very 

 large. 



The effect produced on the fish by the noise caused by 

 rapping on the boat in the instance we have just men- 

 tioned may appear to have some bearing on the ques- 

 tion of whether fish at some little distance below the 

 surface are likely to be disturbed by general noises 

 above it ; but it really has little to do with it. We 

 have good authority for saying that, in such a case as 

 this, the vibration would be transmitted directly tlirough 

 the boat to the water, and thence to the fish ; for it is 

 produced by something in immediate contact with the 

 w^ater, and on a substance whose power of conducting 

 sound is considerable. A general opinion prevails, 

 however, among fishermen that sounds produced even 

 on the land will reach fish in some depth of water ; and 

 complaints have sometimes been made of fish having 

 been frightened away from their feeding by the noise 

 of artillery practice on the adjoining shore half a mile, 

 or even very much more, distant. But fishermen are 

 apt to forget that the fish when below the surface of 

 the water are not under the same conditions for hearing 

 such sounds as they themselves are wdien above it ; and 

 they may well be excused if they are ignorant of the 

 fact that the sound from gun-firing, which strikes so 

 loudly on their own ears, is to a great extent reflected 

 from the surface of the water, and what passes through 



I 2 



