FISHERIES OF PAMLICO AND CORE SOUNDS 33 
important of this yield and amounted in the same year to 2,954,000 
pounds, or 21 per cent of the total yield of aquatic food products; 
croakers, 2,208,000 pounds, or 15.7 per cent; spots, 1,751,000 pounds, 
or 12.5 per cent; spotted trout, 845,000 pounds, or 6 per cent; starfish 
or harvest fish, 519,000 pounds, or 3.7 per cent; and butterfish, 
298,000 pounds, or 2.1 per cent. 
METHODS OF FISHING 
Pound netting—The pound net is a type of stationary fishing gear 
that operates by directing the fish into inclosures or traps by means 
of leads. While the principle of pound netting is always the same, the 
actual setting and arrangement of the gear varies in different locali- 
ties. A typical pound-net rig used in the summer fisheries of Pamlico 

Fic. 1.—Pound-net fishing. Setting a net. The crib or pound is at the left; the men in the boat are 
setting the heart, and the lead extends off to the right 
Sound and many of its tributaries consists of lead, heart, and pound. 
The lead is 175 to 300 yards long, having a depth of 17 to 20 feet, 
made of cotton webbing of 12-inch stretched mesh. It is supported 
in the water by stakes (pine poles) about 18 feet apart. This lead 
ends at a 9-foot opening into the heart—a semipound, which is 
usually 30 yards on each side, of the same depth as the lead, and made 
of webbing of a stretched mesh of 5 inches. At the end of the heart 
opposite the lead opening is a tunnel 20 feet square at the heart, 
tapering into a 34-inch square exit into the pound proper. This 
tunnel is about 12 feet long of 4-inch stretched mesh and the ends are 
held open by %-inch iron-bar frames. The pound proper, into which 
the tunnel leads and which the fish finally enter, is about 27 feet 
square, having a depth of about 16 feet (depending upon the depth of 
water in which the gear is set), a stretched mesh of 214 inches, and is 
supported at each corner and at varying intervals by stakes. All 
parts of the rig, with the exception of the pound itself, must touch 
bottom and, of course, must rise above the level of the water for at 
