BOATS AND GEAR 243 



down the ages with little modification. For some 

 years now experiments have been made ; some have 

 been crowned with success ; others have not as yet 

 reached a practical stage. For example, a number of 

 owners have fitted the lower warp of the otter-trawl 

 with rollers, to facilitate the passage of the net over the 

 bottom. The use of floating anchors has also become 

 more general in drift-net fishing, to prevent the boat 

 from making too much leeway. In October-November, 

 1907, a new trawl was tried at Boulogne. This was 

 intended for use between two layers of different tem- 

 perature or direction ; it was furnished with two electric 

 lamps fitted with lenses, which were designed to attract 

 the fish before the opening of the net. The lamps (of 

 the Audran-Maniere type) could be lit and extinguished 

 at regular intervals. The fishermen of Helmsdale in 

 Scotland have experimented in the substitution of ramie 

 thread for cotton thread in the making of nets. Ramie 

 thread is more flexible and more durable ; but its 

 diameter is rather too great. Inventors should consider 

 the production of a device capable of capturing herring 

 and mackerel at the moment when, after migration, 

 they disappear into deep water. 1 



To sum up : the most important device, the universal 

 weapon, which may be adapted to the most various 

 ends, is the otter-trawl. Perhaps the secret of its 

 efficiency lies in the fact that of all fishing-gear its form 

 and mechanism are most like the form and physiology 

 of the great fish-eating fish and mammals. Is it not 

 like an enormous fish with a gaping gullet ? The last 

 step of progress is often a return to nature. 

 1 See pp. 167, 169. 



