270 APPARATUS FOR FISHING. 



The question of spawn being destroyed by the trawl is 

 further disposed of by the knowledge that has been gained 

 in recent years of the spawning habits of sea-fish. It has 

 been now distinctly proved by Professor G, O. Sars and 

 M. Malm on the coasts of Norway and Sweden that the 

 eggs of several of our best known sea-fish float during the 

 whole period of their development, and that the herring 

 is the only one among our market sea fishes whose spawn 

 is positively known to be deposited on the bottom. As 

 the usual spawning ground of the herring is in rough 

 places, where the trawl cannot be worked, there is little 

 probability of that net doing much mischief to herring 

 spawn. 



We now come to the last part of the operation of trawl- 

 ing the taking up the net. After the trawl has been 

 towed over the ground for five or six hours, the tide 

 having come to an end, or the limit of the particular fishing 

 ground having been reached, the net is then hauled up. 

 There is not the same custom on all parts of the coast as to 

 the position in which the vessel is placed when the trawl is 

 hoisted up. At Brixham and Plymouth, the old trawling 

 stations in the Channel, it has long been the practice to 

 haul in the trawl-warp over the bow by means of a winch 

 placed just in front of the mast, and the vessel is therefore 

 brought head to wind with the trawl out ahead of her ; and 

 even when one of the improved patent capstans, placed in 

 the middle of the vessel, is used, the warp is still led in 

 over the bow ; but among the trawlers in the North Sea 

 the capstan is always employed, and the rope is hauled in 

 over the port side of the vessel, just opposite the capstan. 

 These, however, are very much a matter of fancy, and in 

 either case there is long and often very laborious work 

 to be done before the trawl comes to the surface. It rarely 



