Fishes as Food for Man 143 
fish hook. In general, fishes are caught in four ways—by baited 
hooks, by spears, by traps, and by nets. Special local methods, 
such as the use of the tamed cormorant * in the catching of the 
ayu, by the Japanese fishermen at Gifu, may be set aside for 
the moment, and all general methods of fishing come under 
one of these four classes. Of these methods, the hook, the 
spear, the seine, the beam-trawl, the gill-net, the purse-net, the 
sweep-net,, the trap and the weir are the most important. The 
use of the hook is again extremely varied. In the deep sea 
long, sunken lines are sometimes used for codfish, each bait- 
ed with many hooks. For pelagic fish, a baited hook is drawn 
swiftly over the surface, with a ‘“‘spoon’’ attached which 
looks like a living fish. In the rivers a line is attached to 
a pole, and when fish are caught for pleasure or for the joy of 
being in the woods, recreation rises to the dignity of angling. 
Angling may be accomplished with a hook baited with an earth- 
worm, a grasshopper, a living fish, or the larva of some insect. 
The angler of to-day, however, prefers the artificial fly, as being 
more workmanlike and also more effective than bait-fishing. 
The man who fishes, not for the good company of the woods 
and brooks, but to get as many fish as possible to eat or sell, is 
not an angler but a pot-fisher. The man who kills all the trout 
he can, to boast of his skill or fortune, is technically known as 
a trout-hog. Ethically, it is better to lie about your great 
catches of fine fishes than to make them. For most anglers, 
also, it is more easy. 
Fisheries—With the multiplicity of apparatus for fishing, 
there is the greatest variety in the boats which may be used. 
The fishing-fleet of any port of the world is a most interesting 
* The cormorant is tamed for this purpose. A harness is placed about 
its wings and a ring about the lower part of its neck. Two or three birds 
may be driven by a boy ina shallow stream, a small net behind him to drive 
the fish down the river. In a large river like that of Gifu, where the cor- 
morants are most used, the fishermen hold the birds from the boats and fish 
after dark by torchlight. The bird takes a great interest in the work, darts 
at the fishes with great eagerness, and fills its throat and gular pouch as 
far down as the ring. Then the boy takes him out of the water, holds him 
by the leg and shakes the fishes out into a basket. When the fishing is over 
the ayu are preserved, the ring is taken off from the bird’s neck, and the zako 
or minnows are thrown to him for his share. These he devours greedily. 
