278 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



of a leader, hearts, tunnel and the crib ; the leader and hearts 

 fishing from top to bottom, the bottom line being held down 

 and in place by means of heavy anchor-stones which were 

 tied to the line a few feet apart the whole length of the 

 leader and hearts, and the top line held in place either by 

 being tied to stakes driven for the purpose or by tin buoys 

 especially made ; the crib or pot which held the fish and 

 from which they were taken when the nets were lifted, as 

 the raising of the crib is called, was a square room with 

 four sides and a bottom, and was from twenty-five to 

 thirty feet square and a little deeper than the water in 

 which it was set, so that the twine of the crib came about 

 two feet above the surface. As the fish simply followed 

 the leader into the hearts and from the hearts through the 

 tunnel into the crib, it will be seen that they were not 

 injured in the least, in fact not even frightened, and the 

 ripe ones thus caught should, and undoubtedly did, yield 

 their eggs to the spawner in just as good condition as if 

 the fish had deposited them on the natural spawning beds. 



Formerly, the fishermen used large roomy sailboats, called 

 pound boats, for lifting their nets. In these boats there 

 was ample room for the regular fishing crew to do their 

 work and also for the spawner and for all the necessary 

 utensils for his work. As it of a necessity required some 

 time to lift one of these nets with a large unwieldy boat 

 and set it again and then sail to the next pound, the 

 spawner had plenty of time in which to overhaul all the 

 fish, collect the eggs from the ripe ones and care for them 

 by the time the next net was lifted. 



Now, however, this is all changed. But very few pound 

 nets are used, and but a very few of those that are used are 

 lifted with the old style pound boats, most of the fisher- 

 men using what is called lifting boats, which are much 

 smaller and are in most cases towed by a steam tug, the tug 

 towing two lifting boats with a crew of men in each boat. 

 Upon nearing the first pound one of these boats is loosened 

 and goes to the net to lift it, while the tug goes on to the 



