232 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
that a large percentage of the cod which have been caught in that region have been netted on a 
small area of bottom, not exceeding three-fourths of a mile in diameter. This “spot of ground” 
appears to be swarming with cod for a considerable portion of the winter, while the adjacent bot- 
tom seems to be almost entirely barren of fish. It is rather irregular in outline, the fishermen say, 
judging from where the fish are taken, but so far as anything can be told of its physical conforma- 
tion, it does not differ from the rest of the sandy slope immediately surrounding. It is said that 
there is no “feed” on the bottom. The fishermen have a theory that there are fresh-water springs 
in this particular locality, around which the cod love to gather; nor, indeed, can they assign any 
other reason, since there appears to be no special feature in the character of the bottom. So per- 
sistent are the cod in clinging to this locality that, almost invariably, nets placed within its limits 
come up well filled with fish, while gear set a dozen or twenty fathoms distant get very few, if any, 
cod. The fishermen have been very much puzzled to understand how the fish get to this spot 
and escape the walls of netting which surround it on all sides. They do not believe that enough 
cod could be there at one time to fill the nets night after night for months, and they arrive at the 
conclusion that the fish must reach the place during the day, at which time they are supposed to 
rise above and swim over the nets that bar their progress at the bottom, and which, of course, can 
be seen by daylight. 
The common dory has been used for fishing the nets, each vessel having from seven to nine of 
them, according to the number of the crew. The men go singly, one in each dory, and, while out, 
either setting or underrunning, the vessel is generally kept under way, the captain and cook man- 
aging her and picking up the crew when the work is completed. As a rule, each one of a netter’s 
crew, except the captain and cook, is provided with a gang of three or more nets, which are fas- 
tened together at top and bottom when set, these forming a wall at the bottom of the sea 150 to 
300 fathoms long and 2 or 3 fathoms deep, being held in position by an anchor at either end. The 
anchor-lines are 50 fathoms long, and one end of each is bent to the upper corner of the nets. 
Under favorable circumstances, one man can set a gang of nets by letting the boat dritt with 
the wind or tide and throwing them over as it moves along, but, as a general rule, two men can 
accomplish this much better. When setting for underrunning, the anchor is first thrown over, and 
25 fathoms of the line paid out, when the buoy-liue is bent to it.* The buoy and line are then 
thrown over, and the remainder of the anchor-line, the end of the latter being made fast to the 
nets, which are the next to follow. A middle buoy is attached to the center of the gang. When 
the nets are all out, the other anchor-line, with the buoy-line attached, is veered out, and last of 
all the anchor is thrown over, which finishes the work. The nets are usually set in the afternoon, 
and allowed to remain setting for several days, unless for some reason the vessel leaves the fishing 
ground. Even then, when forced to seek the shelter of a harbor during a storm, they have some- 
times been left out. The distance at which the gangs of nets are set apart is said to be about 40, 
fathoms, but this is a matter to which no rule can be-applied, as surrounding circumstances will 
cause many variations. Fish are caught only at night, and consequently the nets are underrun 
only in the morning, unless the men are detained by unfavorable weather until later in the day. 
In underrunning, the fisherman goes to one of the buoys on the end of his gang of nets, takes it in 
the dory, and hauls away on the buoy-line, the buoy being thrown out on the other side, and the 
line allowed to run out on one side as fast as it is hauled in on the other. When the anchor-line 
(underrunning line, as it is sometimes called) is up, it is taken across the dory and the fisherman 
hauls along towards the nets. These are underrun by pulling them in on one side of the dory, 
*It is probable that a better way would be to fasten the buoy-line to the upper corner of the net, where the 
end of the anchor-line is attached. 
