84 THE FISHING INDUSTRY 



cod end of the net opens, and the fish are discharged 

 into a pound formed on the deck by horizontal 9" x 3" 

 deal boards. The net is cleaned and shot again. 



On smooth ground trawling is commercially possible 

 at all depths down to 300 fathoms. In few cases, 

 however, is trawling carried on at greater depths than 

 200 fathoms. 



Owing to the large amount of stores and repairs, 

 etc., connected with the maintenance of a fleet of steam 

 trawlers, most large owners maintain fairly elaborate 

 premises in the neighbourhood of the fish dock. These 

 premises generally consist of a net-making hall in which 

 nets are made by women working with shuttles, a large 

 bath of tar or tanning material below in which the net 

 is soaked, also a wood yard and blacksmith's shop, 

 containing a steam hammer, a plumber's shop, a boat- 

 builder's shop, a large store-room fitted with the 

 necessary stores and spares. 



During the war the steam trawlers were comman- 

 deered by the Government for use as patrol boats and 

 mine sweepers. It is estimated that 10 per cent of our 

 steam trawlers and drifters and their crews were lost 

 during the war. 



When steam trawling was first introduced it aroused 

 general opposition, for there was not only the fear that 

 their efficiency would lead to over-fishing in certain 

 grounds, but it was said that the trawl, when dragged 

 along the bottom, destroyed the eggs and killed the 

 immature fish. The line fisherman found that steam 

 trawling made it more difficult to catch demersal fish 

 with baited hooks. He attributed this to the effect ot 

 over-fishing, but it is probable that contact with the otter 

 trawls had made the fish rather more shy and, therefore, 

 more difficult to catch by this method. It is unlikely 

 that steam trawling will lead to serious over-fishing, 



