METHODS OF FISHING 29 



near the surface. It is carried on by sailing vessels and steamers. 

 The drift net is supported on a line carrying cork floats, which is 

 in turn attached to ropes and buoys supporting the net at a varying 

 depth from the surface. Briefly the drift net is a completely sub- 

 merged vertical wall of netting. 



The third principal method of fishing is chiefly practised in 

 Scotland, where a considerable quantity of demersal fish is caught 

 by means of long lines, attached to which are baited hooks. Here, 

 as elsewhere, this kind of fishing is falling off. A long line may be 

 as much as 7 miles in length ; at regular intervals pieces of line 

 from 2 to 3 ft. long, the " Snoods " are attached and these snoods 

 carry the hooks. The line is usually shot at night and fished in the 

 morning, its position in the sea being marked by buoys. The 

 statistics of white fish fishing in Scotland illustrate in a remarkable 

 manner the gradual supplanting of line fishing by the steam trawler. 

 In 1894 the catch of line fish amounted to 1,400,000 cwt., of trawl 

 fish 1,700,000 cwt. In 1904 the totals were line fish about 754,000 

 cwt. ; trawl fish, 1,705,000 cwt. In 1913 the total quantity of 

 line-caught fish landed in Scotland was almost exactly the same 

 as in 1904, but in the meanwhile the quantity of trawl-caught fish 

 had gone up to 2,542,000 cwt. 



It must not be forgotten that it is largely as a measure of pro- 

 tection to this and other classes of inshore fishing that the policy 

 of closing Scottish waters to trawling has been advocated for many 

 years by the Scottish Fishery Board. The number of resident 

 fishermen on the shores of the Moray Firth, which may conveniently 

 be taken as an example, fell from 12,000 in 1892 to 10,261 in 1906. 

 Taking the districts Fraserburgh to Wick, inclusive, the totals 

 for 1910 correspond very closely with those for 1906. For the whole 

 of Scotland the line fishing continues to show a decline, though this 

 is somewhat retarded, presumably because the fishermen are 

 introducing internal-combustion engines into their boats and thus 

 increasing their sphere of activity. 



A steam drifter is usually a vessel of 90 ft. length, with a beam 

 of i8| ft. and a draught of about 10 ft. From the deck of the vessel 

 rise two pole masts, from each of which a small sail can be stretched ; 

 the foremast can be lowered when the vessel is steaming against 

 a head wind or is engaged in fishing. The vessel is divided into 

 water-tight compartments and is usually provided with acetylene 

 gas for lighting purposes. The engine is of the compound surface- 

 condensing marine type, a speed of from 10 to 11 knots being 

 developed. Such a vessel would cost in 1914 from £3500 to ;f4ooo, 

 and its fishing equipment from £750 to £800. The sailing drifter 

 of Scotland is being rapidly replaced by steamers of this type. Of 



