of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



433 



down on the banks to spawn, the trammel and seine nets are used. The 

 fishermen of Britanny use the tramel or tremail-net, a combination of 

 three nets, and from this source probably the present trammel-net derives 

 its name. The trammel-net is about 60 yards in length and 2 yards 

 deep, with a rope at each side, the lower weighted, the upper buoyed with 

 corks, w T hich keep it in an upright position. It is set on the sea bottom, 

 and when the herrings seek the ground to spawn, they get meshed in the 

 trammel. The nets remain in the water, and are fished daily when 

 weather permits. It was for a long time the recognised method of fishing on 

 the banks, but has been in a great measure superseded in later years by the 

 seine or circle net. The banks of Ballantrae are exposed to the full fury 

 of the westerly gales, which in spring prevail on the coast, and at times 

 sad havoc is made with the trammel-nets. Some years whole trains are 

 driven from the banks into deep water, or cast in heaps upon the shore, 

 polluting the ground with dead herrings, and causing the shoal to seek 

 for clean spawning ground, and delaying the spawning until late in the 

 season. On the 1st of March 1876, a gale, which continued for eighteen 

 consecutive clays, brought the fishing to a close, and caused a loss of 

 netting estimated at .£400. 



On the 14th March 1867 a gale came on which lasted for seven days, 

 and the fishermen, fearing that their nets would be useless, and the 

 herrings driven from the banks, a hundred crews left Ballantrae for their 

 homes, leaving all their nets on the spawning beds. Local crews continued 

 the fishing after their departure for three weeks beyond the usual time of 

 closing, and made a most successful catch. On the 19th March 1884, a 

 north-west gale with heavy sea came on, and most of the trammel-nets 

 were driven from the banks and cast in heaps upon the shore. Of 700 

 nets set more than one half were lost or rendered useless. Local crews 

 afterwards found the herrings off Ardmillan Head, about four miles north 

 of the banks, and continued the fishing successfully up to the 10th April. 

 Though driven from the banks in this manner, herrings seldom fail to 

 return in the following year ; but in such circumstances it is conceivable 

 that late spawning may produce small herrings in succeeding seasons. 

 The seine-net was first used by the Loch Fyne fishermen in 1838, in the 

 face of much opposition, legislative and personal, and only in 1867 were 

 all restrictions removed and the seine-net freely permitted to be used. 

 Since then it has held the field, and come into universal use with the 

 Argyleshire fishermen, and by them first employed at the Ballantrae fishing 

 nine years ago. The seine or circle net is from two to three hundred 

 yards in length and forty yards deep, is corked on the upper side, and 

 weighted with lead sinkers in the lower, and is worked by two boats 

 with four men in each. In working the net on the fishing ground the 

 one boat carries the net and pays it out, the other keeps hold of the 

 • sweep ' ropes; the paying out boat makes a wide circuit, the rows of 

 cork on the surface indicating the course of the net. This is called 

 ringi ng ' the herrings. When the circuit is completed, both the bottom, 

 and the upper ropes are pulled by the crews, when the two ends overlap 

 each other, and the herrings, if any are within the circuit, are enclosed 

 and captured. They are then scooped into the boats, and being caught 

 alive, and more tenacious of life in winter than in summer, are some- 

 times brought living in the boats into the harbour. Though the net 

 is frequently hauled empty, at times larger prizes have been drawn from 

 the Ballantrae banks, the seine-net being one of the most successful, 

 though by some regarded as the most destructive, agencies in the capture 

 of the herring. In one year eight men with two skiffs grossed in five 

 weeks £900, and catches realising £100 to £200 were not infrequent. 



