PACIFIC COD FISHERIES. 55 
all had been set they were held and marked by another anchor and 
buoy. The nets were set across the tide and as much as possible in 
the shape of a crescent. 
While most of them were set on the bottom, a few were elevated 
slightly by means of glass floats. Almost invariably, however, the 
nets raised above the bottom caught no fish. 
In hauling in the net a great deal depends upon the captain. In 
order not to put too much strain upon the nets or the machine, the 
vessel should be kept as nearly as possible over the former, and in 
certain kinds of weather and at certain stages of the tides this re- 
quires careful maneuvering on the part of the navigator. 
The nets were set out in the evening and were taken up at as early 
an hour in the morning as possible, as the flesh of the cod will dis- 
color if the fish are not bled soon after dying. Steaming up to the 
first buoy this was taken aboard. The buoy rope was then slipped 
under a couple of the raised fingers on the net lifter and the engine 
started. As soon as the fingers gripped the rope no further handling 
was necessary, except to coil it aft of the machine as it was reeled 
in at full speed. When the anchor appeared it was lifted aboard by 
hand and the head and foot lines of the net were then joined together, 
thus doubling the net over, and placed under the fingers and the 
engine started again. But few stops were necessary, and then only 
when a large skate would be found in the net, as the cod, halibut, and 
other fish passed along the trough around the machine without any 
trouble. A man with a gaff was stationed just aft of the machine, 
and his duty was to gaff all fish insufficiently meshed and apt to fall 
out of the net as it was lifted from the water. Other men received 
the net from the machine, shook out the fish, and stowed the former 
back in the net boxes. 
An odd feature of the experiment was the comparatively large 
number of halibut caught in the few nets set one day. In one haul 
with 10 nets 180 cod and 60 halibut were taken, the halibut ranging 
in weight from 5 to 30 pounds. No halibut were taken in the other 
trials with gill nets, while none at all were taken in the course of 
the trials with trawl lines. 
_ Ashore the nets were run onto large reels, and here they were dried 
and mended with a minimum of expense. The reels were so nicely 
adjusted that a child could turn one even when laden with four or 
five nets. 
When in regular use it is the intention to have the nets divided 
into three sets. One of these will be in the water, one will be aboard 
the vessel, while the other will be ashore. All mending and drying 
of nets will be done ashore, the fishermen having nothing to do with 
this part of the work. 
