APPARATUS USED IN CAPTURING FISH. 



271 



Fi-r. 16. 



The fish usually enter in high water, either late in the eveniii"- or early 

 ill the iiioruiiio-, and when low water oceuis between these periods few 

 or no fish are taken. 



AtE;ist])()rt tlieweirson theOainiiohello shore, as well as those atGrand 

 Manan, taiu' most Ush when high water o( curs in the even- 

 ing, rendering it necessary to take out the herring about mid- 

 night, or a little later. At Captain Treat's weir and others 

 acljacent to it, however, the best time for taking out the 

 fish is usually from five or six o'clock in the morning until 

 ten, a much more convenient arraugement. 



The variety of weirs in use in the vicinity of Eastport, 

 and about Campobello and the island of Graml Manan, is 

 very great, and the number in use, as well as the quantity 

 of lierring captured in them, is almost incredible. 



This form of weir does not involve the use of a leader, 

 and can be used to advantage only where the tide is very 

 high and the shores especially adapted to them. Weirs 

 with leaders are used more frequently where there is a 

 long extent of shallow water, which is bare at low tide. 

 A simple form of this leader is given in Fig. 16, kindly 

 furnished by Mr. J. C. Brevoort, as used on the south side 

 of the St. Lawrence River, from Quebec to near its mouth. 

 Here the lead"'' may be of indefinite length, (sometimes 

 one thousand feet and over,) ending- in either a bowl or a 

 circle. The whole is constructed of stakes or osiers, or both. 

 {Sometimes a second leader, with its second bowl, is pla(;ed 

 exterior to and in continuation of the first. This form of 

 leader of a weir is the simplest of all, and the one more 

 generally used in England, where our more com[)licated and 

 •more efhcient arrangements appear not to be known. 



This fact must be borne in mind in considering the de- 

 cision of the British commission in reference to the amount 

 of influence that such apparatus could exercise upon the 

 fish supply, of which commission Professor Huxley was a 

 member, to the effect that such apparatus exercised very 

 little inriuence upon the persistence of the fish supply. 



Weirs as used in Caiie Cod are somewhat differently 

 constructed, as they consist in large part of slats or boards. 

 The figure and following description have been famished by Captain 

 Prince Crowell : 



East Dennis, Massachusetts, Deccmher 2, 1871. 



Dear Sih : The weirs on tlic north side of the cape are what are called dry weirs ; 

 they are set on the ilats where the tide ebbs off and leaves them dry, at which time 

 the fish are taken out. The flats extend from one-lialf to one mile from high-water 

 mark ; from six to eiglit feet water over them at high water. 



The leaders and heart are constrncted by nailing laths npon small poles worked into 

 the sand, with a peg through the pole (when worked down) just under the surface of 

 the san<l, on which boards are jjlaced, then stone ballast to keep them from working 

 np, and the first and second 2)t)und-seines are usually used, the i)oles being fixed down 

 the same as the heart and leader, although some are made of all laths. Some have 

 only one pound instead of two. There are about fifteen of these weirs between Yar- 

 mouth and Provincetown. I know of no other kind. I inclose a little diagram, (Fig. 

 17,) without being drawn to any particular scale, and liope it will be iutelligible. 

 Yours, truly, 



P. S. CROWELL. 



A modification of the heart-pound is largely used in the bays and 

 mouths of the rivers of Maine and the provinces, for the capture of 

 salmon, as illustrated in Fig. 18. 



Soiitli side lower 

 8t. Lawvpnce. 

 Jlening' Weir. 



J. C. SltEVOORT. 



