FISHING WITH THE SEINE. G7 



quarters. It is neither more nor less than a large net, 

 which is flung into the midst of a shoal of fish when op- 

 portunity offers. It can be used only near the shore, or 

 some convenient place for hauling it in. The moment the 

 "finny spoil" is entrapped, both ends of the seine are 

 brought ashore and made fast, and the fishermen haul in 

 the bottom until it touches the ground, so as to enclose 

 the fish completely, and prevent their escape. They are 

 then taken out of the net with all possible speed, split 

 open, salted, and packed in barrels; these operations 

 being effected generally on a kind of stage or platform 

 erected for the purpose, but sometimes in the fishing-boat. 

 The net varies in size from 70 to 120 fathoms long, and 

 from 50 to 100 feet deep, according to the character of 

 the locality in which it is used. An average haul 

 amounts to about 200 quintals ; but in the largest seines, 

 under favourable circumstances, as many as 1000 have 

 been collected. 



Some experienced fishermen strongly object to the em- 

 ployment of the seine, on the plea that its use in any 

 locality has the effect, after a time, of driving away the 

 fish ; and they point to places formerly celebrated as the 

 haunts of immense shoals which the cod have of late years 

 deserted. But if the cod have been spirited away, it is 

 not perhaps the seine that should be censured, but its 

 accompaniments the noise and motion of the men as 

 they pass to and fro, and the throwing overboard, or from 

 the stage-heads, of the entrails and heads of the fish after 

 they have been split and headed. At all events, the 

 seine is so simple in its use, and so remunerative, that it 

 will not 136 abandoned except under strong legislative 

 compulsion. 



