260 MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



Trammel Nets. Derived from gill nets trammel nets are sometimes called 

 "tangle nets" since they check, hinder, and entrap. Three sheets of netting are 

 suspended from a common cork line and attached to a common bottom, or lead, 

 line. The middle net is of fine mesh, loosely hung, while the outer, guard nets, 

 are usually 3 times the size of the center-net meshes. They are so constructed that 

 a fish, striking from either side, passes through the large mesh and hits the small 

 mesh netting, through which it cannot pass or is gilled. Its struggles cause the 

 loose net to slip through one of the openings of the other large mesh webbing, 

 forming a sack in which the fish is trapped. 



From 10 to 50 of these nets constitute a string, the number set by one boat. 

 Each net is about 40 fathoms long and 20 of these nets cover nearly a mile 

 (4,800 feet). Wood or cork floats, 3 to 4 inches in diameter, are strung to the top 

 line to keep the net upright in the water, and 2-ounce leads in pairs every 8 to 

 12 inches offset the pull of the corks and hold the net on the sea floor. When a 

 net is set, the lead line rests on the bottom and the cork line holds the net in a 

 vertical position under the surface. 



The average string of nets is operated by crews of 3 to 6 men daily, weather 

 permitting. They are anchored with stones or small boat anchors at the end of 

 each 5 or 10 nets and buoyed with small kegs or identifying buoys at frequent 

 intervals along the string. 



When a gang of nets is set, one end is put out with an anchor and buoy 

 attached; then the nets are paid out as the boat travels at slow speed until the 

 last end of the gang is anchored and a marking buoy attached. They are left in 

 the water from 12 to 24 hours after which the fish are removed and the nets 

 replaced. Every 2 or 3 days, or trips, the fishermen bring the nets ashore to dry 

 and mend them. In some fisheries 3 gangs of nets are rotated daily; one is used 

 in fishing, one is aboard the boat to be set, and the third is ashore drying. 



Pound Nets, Traps, and Weirs. Enclosures formed by fences of stakes entwined 

 with branches, placed in advantageous spots in streams, lakes, and along the 

 shore of the sea, have long been employed in the fisheries. The openings are so 

 placed that the natural course of the fish leads into the trap from which it is dif- 

 ficult to escape. Long leaders extending from the shore to the mouth of the trap 

 serve as an additional aid in deflecting the fish into the trap. In principle they 

 are similar to many animal traps. 



Trap-net fishing evolves from ancient stone and brush weirs used by primitive 

 people. Large brush weirs are still common in the sardine-herring fishery of 

 Maine. Such weirs are still practical where fishing and tide conditions are 

 favorable. The 50-foot tides in the Bay of Fundy district afford opportunity to 

 work on these weirs since they are nearly dry at low tide. In some instances 

 natural estuaries or inlets along the shore are converted into natural pounds by 

 simply stretching a stop net across the opening after the fish are inside. 



There are numerous variations in the form and construction of this gear in use 

 in American fisheries, but only a few of the more typical will be referred to in 

 this chapter. Of these the weirs are the most primitive and will be described first. 



Weirs. Fishermen usually put weirs at a point of land that extends out into the 

 water for some distance, or in channels, frequently between islands, or ledges, 

 where the tide is strong, to take advantage of the tendency of the fish to remain 

 in the strong current. 



