248 MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



placed in the hold. Speed is a factor in this operation and the time required for 

 setting and pursing usually varies from 15 to 20 minutes. Brailing time depends 

 on the quantity of fish taken, requiring as much as 3 hours when 100,000 pounds 

 or more are captured. After the set the seine is stacked in a manner to facilitate 

 reoperation at a moment's notice. 



Purse seines, as operated in the menhaden, mackerel, and herring (sardine) 

 fisheries on the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, use 1 or 2 seine boats. 

 The seine is stowed in the seine boats while at sea and on the deck of the vessel 

 at other times. 



When a school of fish is sighted from the crow's nest, the vessel is maneuvered 

 into a favorable position to head off the school. A boom about 20 feet long, which 

 is attached to the seine boat, is swung out from the base of the mast. Immediately 

 one end of the net, including the purse line, is put into the water and held in posi- 

 tion by a small dory. The vessel then makes a circle around the school while 

 the seine is rapidly paid out from the seine boat. When the circle is completed, the 

 ends of the seine and purse line are brought together in the seine boat and the 

 vessel and dory move off. The purse line is drawn in with the aid of a small gas 

 engine, taking only a few minutes, and the excess netting is hauled by hand. The 

 fish thus concentrated in the bunt are brailed immediately in order to prevent 

 them from drowning. Seine boats are about 40 feet long, with an 8 or 9 foot beam, 

 and 3 or 4 feet deep. They are of open double-end construction, quite similar to 

 the average lifeboat. 



When 2 seine boats are used, half of the seine is stowed in each. This system 

 is still used in the menhaden fishery where they are towed astern tandem fashion. 

 The seines in this instance are made with the bunt in the center. Many of these 

 seine boats are powered with gas engines. 



In the West Coast tuna and pilchard fisheries the purse seines are operated 

 directly from a wide turntable in the stern of the vessel. The seines are set from 

 the stern and pursed by deck winches. A boom from the mast speeds the work 

 of hauling in the excess netting after a set, but otherwise its operation is similar 

 to other types of purse seining. 



Tuna Seines. These seines vary in size from 350 to 500 fathoms in length and 

 from 25 to 50 fathoms in depth. The average seine consists of 5 strips of netting, 

 each 100 meshes deep, which are laced together and run longitudinally the 

 length of the net. The net is made of 42-thread medium cotton twine with 4/2- 

 inch meshes. The bottom strip of 60-thread medium cotton with 8-inch meshes is 

 50 meshes deep. This is hung to /s-inch and I-inch Manila ropes, buoyed on the 

 upper line with 6,000 special seine corks 6 inches in diameter, and weighted on 

 the lower line with 2,500 pounds of 4-ounce seine leads. Approximately 225 

 galvanized iron purse line rings, % inches thick and 4 to 6 inches in diameter, are 

 attached by 15-thread Manila rope bridles to the lead line. The Manila or steel 

 purse line, VA inch in diameter, is rove through these rings and the seine is com- 

 plete. When fully rigged and treated with coal tar, its total weight is about 25,000 

 pounds (12/2 tons), of which one third is netting. 



Menhaden Seines. These seines, especially designed for this fishery, average 

 about 300 fathoms in length and 20 fathoms in depth. They are constructed of 

 2-inch mesh, ^% hawser lay wings and Wi2 hawser lay in the portion around 

 the bunt. The bunt, located in the center section, is made up of strips of 12-, 15-, 



