186 



DEEP-SEA PISHING. 



On the southern side of the Bristol Channel we come 

 to Bridgewater Bay, which is Avorked by a number of 

 boats for both fish and shrimps ; and, as in all large 

 bays with only a slight dejDth of w^ater, the fish found 

 there are for the most part of small size. The sand- 

 banks, however, are the haunts of immense numbers of 

 shrimps, and the Burnham fishermen catch them in 

 bag-nets set close to the ground, and suspended between 

 stakes driven into the sand. As the tide leaves the 

 banks dry the shrimps and small fish find their way into 

 the bags, which have a funnel-shaped valve of netting- 

 inside, like the entrance to a mousetrap, not fiir from 

 the end ; so that the shrimps having once passed through 

 are not well able to return. Numbers of fish too small 

 to be of any use are caught in these nets, and at times 

 there is said to be great destruction of small fry in con- 

 sequence. This unfortunately is more or less the result 

 with all the devices in use for catching shrimps. The 

 boats used by the Burnham fishermen are flat-bottomed 

 and sharp at both ends \ they carry a small spritsail and 

 foresail, and are worked by a couple of men. 



'm-Htt 



Burnham Fishing Boat. 



Barnstaple Bay and the ground between that and 

 Lundy Island are successfully fished by smnll trawlers 



