434 u - S - BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



When ready to set the net the boxes were arranged on the after 

 deck, and as the vessel steamed along the anchor, buoy, and buoy line 

 were thrown overboard, and the nets were then paid out by two men, 

 one handling the cork line and the other the lead line. Another man 

 bent on a new net when the previous one had almost run out. After 

 all had been set they were held and marked by another anchor and 

 buoy. The nets were set across the tide and as nearly as possible in 

 the shape of a crescent. While most of them were set on the bottom, 

 a few were elevated slightly by means of glass floats. Almost inva- 

 riably, however, the nets raised above the bottom caught no fish. 



In hauling in the net, a great deal depends upon the captain. In 

 order not to put too much strain upon the nets or the machine, the 

 vessel should be kept as nearly as possible over the former, and in 

 certain kinds of weather and at certain stages of the tides this re- 

 quires careful maneuvering on the part of the navigator. 



The nets were set out in the evening and were taken up at as early 

 an hour in the morning as possible, as the flesh of the cod will dis- 

 color if the fish are not bled soon after they die. Steaming up to the 

 first buoy, this was taken aboard. The buoy rope was then slipped 

 under a couple of the raised fingers on the net lifter and the engine 

 started. As soon as the fingers gripped the rope, no further handling 

 was necessary except to coil it aft of the machine as it was reeled 

 in at full speed. When the anchor appeared it was lifted aboard by 

 hand and the head and foot lines of the net were then joined together, 

 thus doubling the net over, and placed under the fingers and the 

 engine started again. But few stops were necessary, and then only 

 when a large skate was found in the net, as the cod, halibut, and 

 other fish passed along the trough around the machine without any 

 trouble. A man with a gaff was stationed just aft of the machine, 

 and his duty was to gaff all fish insufficiently meshed and apt to fall 

 out of the net as it was lifted from the water. Other men received 

 the net from the machine, shook out the fish, and stowed the former 

 back in the net boxes. 



An odd feature of the experiment was the comparatively large 

 number of halibut caught in the few nets set one day. In one haul 

 with 10 nets, 180 cod and GO halibut were taken, the halibut ranging 

 in weight from 5 to 30 pounds. No halibut were taken in the other 

 trials with gill nets, while none at all were taken in the course of 

 the trials with long lines. 



Ashore, the nets were run onto large reels, and here they were dried 

 and mended with a minimum of expense. The reels were so nicely 

 adjusted that a child could turn one, even when laden with four or 

 five nets. 



When in regular use, it is the intention to have the nets divided 

 into three sets. One of these will be in the water, one will be aboard 

 the vessel, while the other will be ashore. All mending and drying 

 of nets will be done ashore, the fishermen having nothing to do with 

 this part of the work. 



This experiment was soon abandoned, solely because of the diffi- 

 culty experienced in persuading the fishermen to take it up and 

 handle it properly. 



While the machine will work upon the codfish banks profitably, 

 either with gill nets or line trawl, it is probable that in the near 



