26 SALMON FISHERIES OF PACIFIC COAST. 



swing around with the strain of the swift current on the net. A 

 single block is attached to the pole, and through this passes a rope, 

 thus making a tackle for the more convenient manipulation of the 

 net. The dip-net fishermen of the Columbia River use this net, 

 which derives its name from the fact that it used to be commonly 

 operated by Indian squaws for taking salmon. But few are now 

 in use, for the same reasons as given for the decline in the use of 

 dip nets. 



PURSE SEINES. 



This form of apparatus is in quite general use in Puget Sound 

 and southeast Alaska, and has proved highly effective in these deep, 

 swift waters. These seines are about 200 fathoms long, 25 fathoms in 

 the bunt, and 20 fathoms in the wings, all with a 3-inch mesh. The 

 foot line is heavily leaded and the bridles are about 10 feet long. 

 The purse line is made of 1^-inch hemp. The rings through which 

 the purse line is rove measure about 5 inches in diameter and are 

 made of galvanized iron. 



On Puget Sound the purse seiners congregate mainly on what are 

 known as the Salmon Banks, off the lower end of San Juan Island, 

 during the run of sockeyes. After this run is over they go up the 

 Sound and fish for dogs and cohos, and later go to the head of the 

 Sound and fish for dogs, cohos, chinooks, and steelhead trout. In 

 southeast Alaska they follow the fish all over the bays, straits, and 

 sounds of that section. Purse seines are used in a few other places, 

 but the fishery is secondary to those with other forms of apparatus. 



On Puget Sound special power boats, which are fitted with a power 

 winch for hauling in the net, are used almost exclusively in operat- 

 ing the purse seines. As soon as a school of fish is sighted one end 

 of the seine is attached to a dory, and while this remains stationary 

 the seine boat starts off, the crew paying out the net over a roller 

 in the stern. A circle is made around the fish, the boat returning to 

 the dory. The purse line is then attached to the winch, and the line 

 slowly hauled in by power. As the net comes in, the slack is neatly 

 coiled up on a platform in the stern of the boat, the cork line lying 

 on one side and the lead line on the other. As the circle gradually 

 narrows a man stands at the davit with a long pole which he con- 

 tinually plunges into the circle and between the purse lines for the 

 purpose of frightening the fish away from the center of the net, 

 which is open for about a third of the time required to purse it. 

 The poleman in time becomes very expert and is able to plunge the 

 pole into almost any part of the center and have it return unaided 

 to his hands. After the net has been pursed, the bag is either rolled 

 into the boat or the fish dipped or gaffed from the net into the boat. 



This style of fishing is said to have been introduced on Puget Sound 

 by the Chinese in 1886. 



