52 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OF 



gear on board, and although the net is said to last from 

 two to four months, considerable repairs are needed, while 

 the cod and under side have to be renewed two or three 

 times. In such trawlers as continue out at sea for several 

 days, ice is usually taken on board in order to preserve the 

 captures. Trawling is more or less carried on throughout 

 the year, but mostly during the winter months, as a suffi- 

 ciency of wind is necessary. A tide of moderate strength 

 is preferred. The net is towed in the direction of the tide, 

 but a little faster. When shooting the net, the vessel must 

 be moving through the water, and care be taken that in its 

 descent the proper side is uppermost, while the trawling 

 should be carried on where the surface of the ground is 

 smooth. The gear is usually down a tide, or from five to 

 six hours, owing to which and the pressure which bears 

 upon the fish which are in its toils, very few of the smaller 

 ones are alive when brought to the surface ; or if they are, 

 they are so injured that returning them to the sea is useless, 

 unless as food for other fishes. Trawlers are likewise very 

 destructive to the line fishermen, sweeping away their lines, 

 also passing through the drift-net fishermen's fleets, while 

 in shallow water they occasion considerable injury should 

 they work over the beds of the shell fish. One can well 

 understand the desire of the non-trawling fishermen, as 

 expressed to Mr. Buckland, t that they ought not to work 

 nearer the shore than ten miles in the summer and fifteen 

 in the winter. 



The stow-net or bag-net is an enormous funnel-shaped 

 net, as much as sixty yards in length, and having small 

 meshes. Its mouth is square, while it gradually decreases 

 in size as far as its end. It is used at the mouth of the 

 Thames, also in the Solent and the Wash, for the purpose 

 of catching sprats, while occasionally a shoal of young 



