Gill nets, which are several 

 feet deep and more than 20 

 feet long, can be anchored at 

 various points (stake gill net), 



staked only at the ends (an 

 anchor gill net or sink net) or 

 allowed to float (floating gill net). 



Pound nets— Pound nets 

 are intricate nets that have a 

 leader, heart and trap. The 

 leader is a long expanse of 

 webbing that extends to the 

 shore. It bars fish from swim- 

 ing downstream and directs 



them toward the heart. It is 

 this heart-shaped funnel that 

 channels fish into the trap. 

 The trap is a webbed box 

 with no top. It offers no means 

 of escape for the shad, herring 

 or flounder that swim into its 

 midst. 



Fyke nets— Like pound 

 nets, fyke nets are traps. They 

 are set in channels where 

 water flow is strong. A fyke 

 net is a hooped net with 

 wings and sometimes a 

 leader to funnel fish to the 

 entrance. 



Seines— To encircle schools 

 of finfish, fishermen use 

 seines. A circle of netting is 

 pulled tighter and tighter until 

 the catch can be concen- 

 trated and scooped out. Seines 

 have a small mesh that trap 

 rather than gill fish. They can 

 be set in a semi-circle against 

 a beach or bank (a beach 

 seine). Or, in deeper waters, 

 two boats can be used to en- 

 circle a school of fish (long- 



haul seine). If the bottom of 

 the seine is closed, or pursed, 

 the net is a purse seine. 



Seines are used to capture 

 menhaden, river herring, 

 flounder, spot, croaker, gray 

 trout and striped bass. 



Trawls— A trawl is a flattened, 

 V-shaped net that is pulled 

 behind a boat. Fish and 

 shellfish are swept into the 

 wide mouth of the net and 

 accumulate in the tailbag. 



Fishermen may tow from 

 one to four trawls behind their 

 vessels. Periodically, the trawl 

 is winched aboard the boat to 

 empty the catch. Trawls can 

 be rigged to catch shrimp, 

 crabs, scallops, flounder, 

 spot, croaker and squid. 



trawl 



er Excluder 



Varnamtown netmaker Steve Parrish called 

 Sea Grant agent Jim Bahen with an idea. 



He'd been giving this TED contraption some 

 thought. Now TEDs, short for turtle excluder 

 devices, had been designed by the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service to let endangered sea 

 turtles out of shrimp nets. 



The 2 1 /2- by 4-foot PVC frame excluders 

 worked. But the problem was fishermen didn't 

 like them. 



They were cumbersome and kind of expen- 

 sive, grumbled fishermen. But most of all, they 

 were worried that anything that put a hole in a 

 net big enough to let out a 500-pound turtle 

 would let out shrimp, too. 



Parrish understood their concerns, and he 

 had some ideas and designs of his own. He 

 called Bahen, who had been putting the word 

 out about TEDs at the local docks, to see what 

 he thought. 



Bahen added a few ideas of his own. Then, 

 several sketches and a few yards of mesh later, 



continued next page 



