FISHING GEAR AND FISHING METHODS 



253 



Trawl nets are one of the very few forms of gear which has become standard- 

 ized. This is particularly true in the types employed in the ground fish (haddock 

 and cod) fishery of New England. Here the size or type of trawl is designated by 



Fig. 13-10. The various sections of a trawl net before it is laced together. The vari- 

 ation in mesh size can be seen here. 



a pattern number or name, as follows: #35, #36, #41, #41-A, #45-A, Portu- 

 guese type, and Iceland type. They are all made in sections which the fishermen 

 lace together for convenience in replacement at sea as the need arises. Some nets, 

 particularly the heavy Manila nets imported from England, Ireland, and Holland, 

 are hand-knit. Although domestic nets are machine-knit, they are tailored and 

 shaped by hand into the various sections. 



Every otter-trawl net is made in two parts, referred to as upper and lower 

 halves, each of which is made up of sections consisting of a pair of wings, a pair 

 of bellies (middle pieces), and a single cod-end. In addition the upper half has 

 an extra section known as the square, which gives the net the necessary overhang 

 at the mouth of the net. 



The meshes, which start at SM inches (6 inches in some nets) in the wings, are 

 progressively smaller as the net narrows to the cod-end, where they are 2/2 to 3% 

 inches. Reversely, the twine increases in size from the wings to the cod-end, the 

 former being made from 1200-foot, 3-ply Manila, or 24- to 36-thread cotton, and 

 the latter from 750-foot, 3-ply double Manila twine, or 96- to 120-thread cotton. 



Combination steel wire and Manila strand ropes, with a fair degree of flexi- 

 bility and great strength, are widely used as headropes and footropes, to which the 

 netting is seized. They vary in diameter from Yz to 1 inch. 



