FISHING GEAR AND FISHING METHODS 



277 



will be produced in the near future. Meanwhile, to summarize the present status 

 of this problem, it can be fairly stated that considerable progress has been made, 

 particularly during the past decade, and that this advancement can be largely 

 attributed to the cooperation of the fishermen. 



Gear of Foreign Fisheries 



Canadian fishing methods and the types of gear now employed in the com- 

 mercial fisheries have kept pace with improvements in the gear used in the 

 United States during the past two decades. The result is that the gear of the two 

 countries are quite similar. In Great Britain the variety and form of the fishing 

 gear now parallel United States usage. 



In general the types of fishing gear which accoimt for the greatest production 

 in the northern European fisheries are largely otter trawls, drift-gill nets, sweep 

 nets (modified seines), trawl and hand lines, haul nets, and purse seines. 



In the South American republics the fishing gear has been improved through 

 the introduction of power vessels and the discovery of new fishery resources. This 

 has resulted largely from the assistance given these countries by the OflBce of the 

 Coordinator of Inter-American Afi^airs and by the trained fishery technologists 

 sent to these countries to survey the natural resources. Native fishermen who were 

 shown the various types of gear used for catching the most abundant species in 

 these coastal waters were soon profiting from their observations. Work along these 

 lines, conducted in Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, 

 Honduras, British Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican 

 Republic, and the British West Indies during 1942, is contained in a report 

 titled, "The Fisheries and Fishery Resources of the Caribbean Area." The recom- 

 mendations resulting from this survey have in many instances already been carried 

 out, and are accountable for greater employment and expanded commercial 

 fisheries. 



Work of a similar nature has been conducted in Peru and Chile and has con- 

 tributed to the recent expansion of these fisheries through the adoption of such 

 gear as trawl nets, trammel and gill nets, seines, etc. The United States has main- 



FiG. 13-33. Brazilian fish weir closely resembling those used in Maine sardine fisheries. 



