576 FISHING NETS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE OTTER-TRAWL. 



of course — so tliat the meshes along the side — " selvage," it is called — 

 correspond above and below. In lacing it is better to begin at the 

 cod-end and work along to the wings, because the "bag" must be 

 uniformly alike above and below, whereas a little slack, which may 

 show itself in the lacing, does not matter in the wings. The selvage 

 is of double twine both above and below, and the lacing strings, also 

 double, should take in two to six extra rows of meshes. There should 

 be little chance, therefore, of the net breaking away in the selvage.* 



When both sides of the net are laced up, the lower portion should 

 be stretched out flat and the pockets put in. This is done by getting 

 hold of the net where it is 120 meshes across, and lacing the top to 

 tlie bottom part across the first three meshes on each side, then down 

 some ten feet along a line of the network. As the lacing proceeds, 

 the first two meshes of the sides of the flapper are taken up and laced 

 in between the bottom and top part of the net. At 90 the pockets 

 end, but the flapper is laced down to the belly some two feet further 

 along the same line of network. About six rows of the flapper are 

 left free at the end. By lacing the flapper down to the belly a free 

 space is left above, between the flapper and the top batings, so that 

 when fisli get behind the flapper and try to strike back they will enter 

 this space first of all, and thence be guided into the pockets. 



When the trawl is laced up the last operations consist in fixing 

 on the head-line and foot-rope. The " foot-rope " or " ground-rope " 

 is a very large and expensive structure in the modern trawls. It has 

 a central core of " 2| " in. wire covered by old netting from mackerel 

 or herring nets, and this is rounded with old manilla trawl warps. 

 When complete it measures about 10 in. in circumference and 120 

 to 138 ft. long. 



In order to fix on the ground-rope, the centre of the bosom should 

 be found and hitched up on a pole as before ; the wings are then 

 stretched parallel to one another and their ends hitched up to another 

 pole. The "balch" or " balch-line," or rope Ih in. in circumference 

 which comes between the ground-rope and the net, is then hitched 

 up at its centre to the first pole and both sides stretched out parallel 

 to some distance over the parallel wings. The bosom of the net is 

 then " marled " on (Fig. 3) directly to the balch. The wings, however, 

 have what is called the " flying-mesh " along the inner side (Fig. 3), 

 and the balch is fixed on differently. A " wing-line " of the ordinary 

 net-twine, but doubled, is passed through each flying-mesh, as shown 

 in the figure, and then marled on to the balch-line. The flying-mesh 

 for the wings is an ingenious contrivance. The part most liable to 

 injury from stones or "ross" on rough ground, is the first two to three 



* When heavy "bags" are experienced, a 2-in. rope is laced in with the selvage. 



