Throw nets . -This is a most important type of gear throughout the 

 ex-mandate. On many of the islands, the coral reefs are so rough that 

 any kind of seining is impossible, but many spots can be fished with 

 a throw net. 



The Polynesian and Micronesian throw net differs in construction 

 from the cast net of our Atlantic and Gulf coasts mainly in not having 

 drawstrings. After throwing the net it is necessary to dive in after 

 it to recover fish and net. This arrangement, or lack of it, may seem 

 inconvenient to American fishermen, but again, much of the bottom is 

 so rough that drawstrings simply could not be used to close the net. 

 Otherwise the nets are similar, Most native nets have a length or 

 radius of U 1/2 to 7 feet. A 6-foot Kusiae net is shown in figure 15, 

 and the method of gathering it for throwing is illustrated in figure 16. 

 Nowhere did we see any large, native-made nets like the 14-foot radius 

 Hawaiian net shown in figure 17, being thrown by my assistant, Mr. 

 Tony Aki. At Eniwetok, one cast of this large net caught 81 goatfish, 

 Mulloidichthys auriflamma Forskal, weighing about half a pound apiece. 



Native nets vary in mesh size from l/4.-inch square, used to catch 

 bait fish, to 1 l/4-inch square for food fish. Prior to the war, when 

 the Japanese supplied ample stocks of twine, there was nearly a throw 

 net per family in the Marianas SJid in the Carolines. For some reason 

 this net is not so popular in the Marshalls, perhaps because there is 

 more sand beach where full-size seines can be used. By the summer of 

 1946, few of these nets remained anywhere, and replacement twine from 

 the United States waa slow in coming in. 



Traps. -Stone traps are built by community effort. Loose coral 

 rocks are piled together to form a crude heart, with one wing leading 

 toward shore, the other extending along the top of the reef toward 

 deeper water in the lagoon. A number of these traps exist, but only 

 two were seen — at Kapingamarangi (Carolines) and at Piiraai Island, 

 Eniwetok Atoll (Marshalls ) • Depth of water in one trap visited is 

 near 4- feet at high tide, and less than a foot at low tide, some 

 parts of the heart being out of water at low tide. Usually only 

 men take part in driving fish into the trap at half -flood to high 

 water. Catch is commonly goatfish, tang, mullet, mackerel and 

 crevalle, but every kind of reef fish is occasionally taken. 



A good catch for a drive into this kind of trap is several 

 hundred pounds of mixed fish, except that sometimes schools of 

 mackerel, Scomber .japonicu s Houttuyn, come inside the lagoon during 

 March-May, and several thousand pounds are caught in a drive. 



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