sxviii ilHAD Fl.SHEUY COMMISSION 



as small as 4^ inclies iu some cases, thovigli 4| inches and even 5 inches is the size of 

 mesh in more general use. Wooden floats are attached along the top line and lead 

 sinkers are attached along the bottom line. Formerly the nets were dyed by being 

 soaked in a liquid made with hackmatack bark, but the fishermen have now univers- 

 ally adopted a new method, viz., soaking the nets in raw linseed oil, the best quality 

 of English linseed oil being used. After being soaked, the nets are hung out and 

 dried thoroughly before being attached to the rope. A fisherman on the Keunebecasis 

 described the nets used up that tributary of the St. John river: 



I did not get a thousand shad this year and the total catch in the Kennebecasis 

 would be 10,000. Up above, big catches were made this year, clear to Norton, a total 

 of forty people probably fishing. Mr. Drew fished only a short time and only got 200 

 shad, but down at the harbour a great many more than we get are taken. Not much 

 can be done in the wide river below, possibly not more than 500 shad taken betweoi 

 here and St. John. The nets we use are cotton gaspereau net cut into two and making 

 eight lengths 18 meshes deep. The net is thus 18 fathoms or 60 yards long of .3f-inch 

 mesh. Shad nets are 41 inches, 40 meshes or 12 feet deep and 75 yards long with a 

 float rope along the top and sinkers along the bottom. In spring when we use these 

 nets the water is high. 



(&) Set Nets. — These nets, like the drift nets, gill or mesh the fish, but instead 

 of drifting with the tide they are fixed upon stakes which are driven into the mud. 

 These stakes vary in length, usually about 20 feet long and 30 or 40 feet apart. The 

 twine used is No. 18 to No. 20, and the mesh about 5J inches, though 4i inches or 5 

 inches is in general use. The larger mesh, some of the witnesses stated, secure the 

 fish more effectively, as they are better meshed. The net is 13 to 18 feet in depth 

 and as a rule dry at low water The cost of the net varies, but a fishennan may have 

 $70 or $80 invested in his set net. These nets were formerly used all around the Bay 

 of Fundy shore but have largely gone out of use in recent years. Drift netting has 

 been more generally adopted by the men who formerly fished set nets, and has proved 

 more efficient and successful. 



(c) Seines. — Seines, as used in shad fishing, are really fixed nets set on stakes, 

 and are intended to inclose or impound the fjsh. These nets are often of great extent, 

 some reaching a length of three-quarters of a mile. The net is four iest high and 

 attached to long stakes, frequently forming a V-shaped inclosure with a bunt or trap 

 of No. 18 cotton thread, the mesh being 2 inches, and an inside net 5-inch mesh, is 

 placed inside the bunt. A small seine, 3,000 feet long would, as stated by witnesses, 

 cost about $200, but a large stake seine may cost as much as $1,200. William Steele, 

 of Scotts Bay, said that the seine there took 18 to 19 men two weeks' labour fixing 

 up, and cost probably $800 or $900. Some of these stake seines appear to have been 

 of extraordinary length; one at Boot island, below Windsor, N.S., was two miles long; 

 and Dr. Perley speaks of one at Noel, in 1851, which was between two and three miles 

 miles in length.* Stake seines are mainly fished off Kings county shore, Nova Scotia, 

 in the estuary of the Avon, Scotts bay, &c. 



(d) Brush Weirs. — With the exception of the primitive methods of taking shad 

 by pitchforks and spears, the brush weir is one of the earliest methods adopted for 

 taking shad. The weir varies in shape, according to the locality in which it is built. 



* Dr. Perley in his work already quoted (p. 151) refers to the injurious effects of such 

 nets. J I 1 



