fathoms. It consists of a rectangular net of sinamay or cotton 

 netting with a finished length of 30 feet and a depth of l6 feet. 

 It may te floated on the corkline "by means of baml)©© floats and 

 simk toward the "bottom line by rock weights; or made up as a push- 

 netlike affairs supported on two sides by bamboo frames that cross 

 at the basal end forming a somewhat triangular baglike net. The 

 operation is very similar to the bahan of the Samar fishermen. 

 Hie fish are driven into the baglike net by means of a long scare- 

 line of coconut leaves strung together with small bamboo floats at 

 intervals. Prom 10 to l6 men and h bancas are employed in the 

 operation. 



8. Japanese Drive-in-net (Muro-ami) — Of the fishing 

 gear employed before the war in the exploitation of the reef fishes 

 in the Islands, the muro-ami ranked first in importance from the 

 viewpoint of initial investment and success in operation. 



An outfit consisted of one large-sized, power-propelled 

 mother boat and four smaller-sized fishing bancas. Ihe former 

 loaded the catch and transported it to market, and the latter were 

 the working or fishing boats proper. Table 2 is a list of the 

 different muro-ami mother boats in act\aal operation in the Philip- 

 pines in 1939. They were Japanese sampans used for carrying fish 

 to market and to carry supplies and provisions for the fishermen on 

 their ret\xrn trip from Manila or other marketing centers. These 

 fishermen did not return regularly to their home ports. Rather 

 they stayed in "stations on shore in the immediate vicinity of 

 the operating grounds ready to begin fishing the moment the mother 

 boat was in condition to take fresh fish into her holds. In their 

 shore station the 15 to 25 fishermen lived in rented houses or in 

 makeshift shelters when no hb\ises could be found. 



The four smaller bancas were open boats about 15 feet in 

 length, 3 feet in width and 1 1/2 feet in depth. They served as 

 the fishing boats on which the nets were loaded and which the fisher- 

 man employed in the actual setting or laying out operations of the 

 gear. These boats were either towed by the mother boat from the 

 station to the fishing grotmd or were loaded on board in case the 

 distance was too far and the sea too choppy or rough. 



The nniro-ami net was made of cotton, the stiMctural design 

 of a typical one being shown in figure 5 and the corresponding 

 s-oecif ications in Tables 3 aJid 4. A perspective view of the gear 

 in operation is shown in figure 6, 



The floatline was composed of two ^ianila ropes; an outer 

 2 l/4-inch, right-laid rope and an inner 2-inch, left-laid rope. 

 Attached to the ^-foot floatline of the bag were circular wooden 

 floats 5 inches across the disk and 1/2 inch thick. These floats 

 were seized very close to each other at the center but spaced 

 farther apart at the outer portions to as far as k inches. On the 

 wings similar floats were spaced at 6-inch intervals at the after 

 end, and 12 inches apart at the fore end. 



14 



