^If.rS'^^"'"^'''^ "^ '''HE OOD FISHERY: A DESCRIPTION OF 



By Capt. J. W. Collins. 



CONSTRUCTION^ AND lUG OF THE NETS. 



1. — Norwegian iveethods. 



The nets used in the Norwegian eod fisheries are usually made of henii) 

 twine, of two, three, or four threads, but occasionally of tlax or cotton. 

 The three-laid hemp twine, which is the most common size, weighs a 

 pound to 400 or 420 fathoms. It is made chiefly on si)inninii-wheels 

 by the iishermeu's families, and the nets are constructed almost exclu- 

 sively by the fishermen and their wives and children. Some of the 

 hemp twine, however, is furnished by the factories of Norway and Great 

 Britain, which also supply all of the cotton and linen twiiu\ 



The size of the mesh varies somewhat, according- to the locality where 

 the nets are to be used, as it is necessary to make the mesh correspond 

 to the size of the fish that frequent ditterent i)arts of the coast or make 

 their appearance at different seasons. The smallest mesh is al)out 5:-; 

 inches (2^^ inches square) and the largest 8 inches (4 inches square). 

 Those exhibited at Berlin were 7 and 8 inch mesh. 



The length of the nets varies from 10 to 20 fathoms, the average length 

 of those used at the Loffoden Islands being loJ fathoms when hung, and 

 they are from twenty-five to sixty meshes deep. Nets about fhirty 

 meshes deep are generally used, while those of sixty meshes are em- 

 ployed only where there is little or no current. The nets are hung both 

 to single and double lines, and these vary somewhat in size. Those ex- 

 hibited were hung to double lines, each being j7_ of an inch in circum- 

 ference, while Mr. F. M. Wallem says that 2-inch rope when single, and 

 1-inch rope when double, is the size commonly used at the Loffoden Isl- 

 ands. Some of the nets are hung to lines only at the top and bottom, 

 having none across the end, while others have them on the ends as else- 

 where. This last method is said to have been recently introduced, and 

 is considered an improvement when the line is a little short, so that the 



'Revised and republished from volume 1, Bulletin ol' the United States Fish Com- 

 mission, 1S81, pp. 1-17, with au account of the results subsequently obtained in tho 

 United States. 



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