FISHING NETS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE OTTER-TRAWL. 583 



contracts about 10 ft. from the end, like the old-fashioned silk purses, 

 and then expands into the culignon. A great length of bag is here 

 necessary in order to make the net contract and retain the fish. 

 Another method, formerly used in the beam-trawls of this country, 

 was to make several pockets up each side of the net, without a flapper. 

 A further method is that used in the shrimp-trawls of the scientific 

 expeditions of the United States, and adopted more recently by 

 Petersen. It consists of a cone, or funnel, which is laced at its broad 

 end near the front part of the bag, the narrower end hanging open 

 and free towards the cod-end. The under part of this funnel is 

 obviously of doubtful use. It must lie on the belly of the net when 

 trawling and is consequently of no service. If the sides of the funnel 

 were laced along the belly, as described here for the otter-trawl, the 

 under part could be done away with. It is probable, however, that 

 Petersen's trawl would fish just as well without the funnel as with it. 



Of the various methods for retaining the fish within the bag, that 

 used in the beam- and otter-trawls seems by far the simplest and most 

 efficient. If the net is properly constructed and properly fixed the fish 

 should have no difficulty in getting into the cod-end, and once there their 

 natural and well-known tendency to strike upward raises them above 

 the flapper, and they thus cannot escape back into the net. The short 

 bag that is necessary is also a great advantage, as it saves a great deal 

 in the making and repairing of the nets. 



The otter-trawl and beam-trawL differ from one another so little 

 that the one may be converted into the other. Ptemove the beam and 

 iron-heads from the latter, braid on a pair of top-wings to the square, 

 and extend the lower wings correspondingly, and we should have a 

 fairly good otter-trawl. The few differences are of minor importance 

 and are concerned with the kind and manner of fishing. It follows 

 from thence that the results of the fishing depend upon the shape and 

 size of the mouth of the trawl. In the beam-trawl the mouth is 

 rectangular — 30 to 40 ft. broad or more, and 3 to 4 ft. high. In the 

 otter-trawl both the height and breadth are still uncertain. According 

 to the experiments made by Fulton * the breadth from board to board 

 varies between one-half and two-thirds of the possible spread, i.e. a 

 trawl with 90 -foot head-line will have a breadth of mouth between 

 45 and 60 ft. In this respect, therefore, the otter-trawl has only a 

 slight advantage over the largest beam-trawls in use. With regard 

 to the height of the centre of the head-line we have no data on which 

 to base a calculation. If the trawl-mouth is open properly it may 

 vary between 5 and 15 ft., and the fisherman's estimate of 10 ft. is 

 probably near the mark. This seems to accord with the opinion 



* Loc. cit., j)p. 120, 121. 



