SEAN FISHING. 89 



bottom at the same time, and so to effectually prevent 

 the escape of the enclosed fish in that direction. The 

 net is thrown out or shot in a semicircle if it is to be 

 hauled on shore, or often in a complete circle, if it is 

 intended to be worked entirely from the boats. In 

 either case the ends are sooner or later brought 

 together, and the fish are completely surrounded. The 

 back, or upper edge, is well supported at the surface 

 by corks, which is very necessary, as the fish mostly 

 caught by the sean are those which commonly keep 

 near the top of the water; and the foot is weighted 

 with leads to keep it down, so that the whole wall of 

 netting may hang perpendicularly from the corks. 



There is no part of our coast where seaning can be 

 seen more effectively worked, or on a larger scale, than 

 in Cornwall. St. Ives has long been famed for its 

 pilchard fishery; and, fluctuating as it has been, the 

 proceeds are so valuable, in even a moderately good 

 season, that for many years it has been thought worth 

 while to keep between 200 and 300 large seans ready 

 for work, and to take their turn in the limited space 

 available for their proper employment. Two, or some- 

 times three, nets are here used for enclosing a shoal of 

 fish, or part of it if it is a large one. The first, or 

 principal net, spoken of as the " sean," is about 200 

 fathoms long and ten fathoms at its deepest part, and 

 another net of the same kind, called the " stop-sean," 

 is fastened to it. These nets are shot at the same time, 

 the boats starting with them from the point where they 

 are joined together, and in a position rather on the 

 outside of the shoal of fish, if they are at a convenient 





