KETTLE-NET AND WEIRS. 1G9 



to go with a horse and cart into the pound and take 

 out the fish before they are left quite dry, as may 

 happen with certain tides. Where the shore is very 

 flat, and much more ground is exposed at spring tides 

 than at neap tides, it was formerly the practice to set 

 up a second arrangement of stakes and nets beyond the 

 first ; the inner end of the second barrier was joined to 

 the outer side of the first pound, and a second and 

 smaller enclosure made at the other end, at extreme 

 low-water mark. By this plan the kettle-net could be 

 worked with almost any tide ; and if either of the 

 pounds did not ebb nearly dry the enclosed fish could 

 always be taken out by means of a small scan. The 

 additional barrier and pound, however, have been 

 forbidden in some cases, and are now generally done 

 away with ; and the prohibition is a first step to- 

 wards the gradual suppression of these nets ; for if 

 no serious objection could be made to them on the 

 ground of their capturing very small fish — indeed less 

 on that score than the ground-seans are open to — other 

 complaints of a more tangible character have led the 

 Board of Trade to discourage their emjDloyment. It is 

 found that these stake-nets, scores of which are placed 

 at short intervals along a line of beach, and extending 

 for various distances from the shore, are very danger- 

 ous to boat navigation ; besides this, a monopoly of the 

 shore fishing has been sometimes acquired by one or 

 two persons who have fixed their kettle-nets along 

 perhaps a mile or two of coast to the complete exclusion 

 of the seaners ; and although heavy catches of mackerel 

 are occasionally made by these nets, the supply from 

 the scans is generally more certain and profitable to 

 both the fishermen and the public when there is a clear 

 space for working them where the fish may happen to 



