6 BULLETIN 150, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The fish are transferred from the trap to the scow by means of 

 the "brailer" (PL I, fig. 2), which is a stretch of net perhaps 20 

 feet long by 10 feet wide. One end is made secure to the side of the 

 scow nearest the trap. To the other end are attached three lines, 

 the central one of which extends through the block at the top of a 

 derrick rigged on a tug drawn alongside and is made fast to the 

 capstan on the deck of the tug. The other two are held in the hands 

 of two operators stationed in a dory within the "spiller" compart- 

 ment of the fish trap. The " brailer " is weighted at its movable end 

 with an iron rod or section of iron pipe and also by short sections 

 of chain distributed at proper intervals along its edge. 



In operation, the line from the capstan on the tug is played out, 

 whereupon the " brailer " falls into the " spiller " and is sunk by its 

 own weights. The two men in the dory then pull upon their lines 

 and straighten out the " brailer " in a horizontal position beneath 

 the mass of fish. At a signal the " brailer " is hoisted to a perpen- 

 dicular position by the line running to the tug, and the fish lifted by 

 it slide or tumble into the scow, to the side of which the " brailer " is 

 attached. This operation is repeated until the " spiller " is emptied 

 or until the scow is filled. The writer has witnessed the filling of a 

 scow of 30,000 fish capacity within an hour and a quarter. 



Perhaps one of the greatest advantages, to the packers, of the fish 

 trap lies in the fact that the fish in the traps are kept in moving water 

 and alive and therefore fresh until they are needed at the cannery. 

 This is of particular advantage in the height of the canning season 

 when fish are abundant and are being received at such a rate as to 

 tax the capacity of the cannery. The fish traps may be drawn upon 

 when fish from the seine fisheries are not immediately available. 



PURSE SEINES. 



The purse seine, so called because it is provided with a line run 

 through rings at the bottom by which it may be closed as a purse with 

 a draw string, is about 1,000 feet long by 125 to 150 feet in width. 

 Rings of galvanized iron strung along its bottom serve both as weights 

 to keep it stretched and to receive the purse line. 



The seine is operated in such manner as to inclose the school of 

 fish, and is then closed at the bottom. To accomplish this, when a 

 school of fish is sighted, one end of the seine is held in a dory while 

 the main length of it is played out from a power boat, which pursues 

 a course encircling the school. "WTien the circle has been completed 

 and the power boat has returned to the dory, the purse line is drawn 

 in by a power winch and the slack in the seine is taken aboard until 

 the fish are forced into a small compass. They are then "brailed" 

 or dipped into the boat, transferred by means of a " gaff," or the 

 mass of fish is drawn aboard while still inclosed in the pursed seine. 



