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464 
APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN CATCHING FISH. 
Of these there are two important modifications :—* Pound-nets ” (in various 4 
forms) for shallow-water fisheries, and “ gill-nets ” for deep-water. 
The pound-net essentially consists of a long net, the so-called “leader” pro- 
jecting at right angles to the shore for from 300 to 600 yards, and supported by 
strong stakes of the necessary length, 30 to 60 feet, driven at an interval of 5 or — 
6 feet. The rim-line of the leader is secured to these at the water-level, — 
while the bottom line is weighted with stone-sinkers. Fish swimming 
towards the leader are diverted by it into the “ heart,’ a A-shaped chamber, the — 
funnel-shaped narrow end of which projects into a “pot” or “crib” some 30 feet — 
square, the floor and walls of which are formed of net, the walls projecting two 
feet above the water-level. The mesh of the leader is 64 to 74 inches, of the — 
heart 3 to 5 inches, of the funnel 38, and of the pot frequently only 2 to 24, to 
the destruction of immense numbers of immature Whitefish. Beyond the first — 
crib a second leader, terminating in the same way, and a third—indeed, as many ~ 
as twenty have been arranged in “strings,” if the shallowness of the water admit — 
of it. Lake Erie obviously permits of such destructive use of this kind of 
apparatus more extensively than any of the other lakes, so that as many as 900 — 
pounds exist on its American side. The average value of a pound-net is from 
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1st LEADER (/rom 60/0110 rods long) | Ay | \\ Wa Nw Con CRIB STAKE 
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BUTT HEART STARE Bs Pres, 
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e BREAST HEART STAKE 
Pounpn-NET. 
$250 to $500, and five men are reyuired to werk three nets. A boat of peculiar 
form is generally used, schooner-riggéd with wide square stern, and plenty of 
beam so as to permit of lifting the pockets or cribs of the pound. They must be 
able to take a large load of fish and yet have little draught. A special scow is | 
used for driving and pulling stakes, in the spring and winter respectively. 
* The Fyke-net is essentially a miniature pound, the crib being replaced by two 
funnels of netting, one opening into the other, and the heart by wings leading to 
the door of the outer funnel at an angle of 45 degrees. They are used for 
catching Perch, Catfish, etc. A similar device is the trap-net which is simply a 
miniature movable pound, the crib of which is held in position by weights and 
floats. 
“:3Pound-nets have largely superseded seines for inshore fishing, but in some 
favorable places with sandy bottom the latter are still used, as in the Detroit 
and St. Clair Rivers. They may be 1,000 feet long by 12 feet deep in the middle, 
where the mesh is narrowest, but shallower and with larger mesh in the wings. 
Horse-power is sometimes used for hauling the seines. . 
The second important variety of net used is the gill-net, so-called as the 
mesh is arrauged of such a size (4} to)4? inches for Whitefish—3} for Herring) as to 
catch fish striking the net behind the gill-covers. These nets areeset vertically 
at different depths in deep water, often at right angles to the shore, the lower 
borders being weighted with stones or leads or iron rings (according to the kind 
