166 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



Near Passage, at the inner part of Waterford Har- 

 bour, sprats are taken in long bag-nets suspended 

 between stakes, the remains, we believe, of old disused 

 salmon weirs. These nets are 14 feet wide, and 8 feet 

 deep at the mouth, tapering for a length of 14 fathoms 

 to the end. They are placed in rows across the course 

 of the tide, and act precisely in the same manner as the 

 stow-net, but their successful worlving of course entirely 

 depends on whether the sprats come within their reach, 

 as they cannot be moved from place to place where the 

 fish may chance to be, as is done in the case of a stow- 

 net worked from a vessel. 



The net used in the Thames for catching whitebait is 

 essentially the same as a stow-net, but on a very much 

 smaller scale. 



