238 SEA FISHERIES 



end a seine is run round the shoal inside the enclosure, 

 and amidst a storm of shouting and yelling, a truly 

 infernal uproar, the fishermen plunge into the water 

 wooden silhouettes of porpoises and voracious fish, so 

 that what with the action of the seine and the terror with 

 which the fish are inspired they are concentrated in a 

 compact mass. The seine is then drawn into shallow 

 water and the fish are taken out at leisure. 



IV 



We will now proceed to examine the second class of 

 devices, by means of which the fish is allowed to capture 

 itself, namely, the class of which the drift-net is the best- 

 known example. 



The herring-net as used in France is of cotton, water- 

 proofed with rubber or coal-tar. The meshes measure 

 9 to i inch on the side. The length of each net is 

 about 80 feet and its depth 36 feet. By joining a number 

 of nets end to end the drift-net is obtained as used. The 

 length of a complete net thus made up varies from 3! 

 to nearly 5 miles and costs a sum of ^800. When the 

 net is to be used it is suspended from a warp, which 

 carries numbers of small kegs or kerosene tins or tin 

 pocket-flasks as floats ; corks are less frequently used, 

 being heavy and not so buoyant. The lower edge of the 

 length is hung sometimes with small leads, but usually 

 with old nets, their weight being sufficient to stretch the 

 net without detracting from its suppleness. The herring 

 boat pays out the net over the stern, the drifter over the 

 bows (whence the rudder at the bows and the lowered 

 mast) while going astern at a rate of two or three knots. 

 The net is shot in the evening, as the fish are taken at 

 night. The net is shot across the tide and the vessel 

 rides at the end of the warp with sails set aft, so that her 



