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Part III — Eighteenth Animal Report 



ground net, locally known as a " trammel." The latter are chiefly used 

 at Ballantrae Bank and the Ayrshire coast, but they are also employed 

 to a small extent in other localities. Many fishermen make use of more 

 than one mode ; it is common for the drift net and the seine net to be 

 employed by the same crews at different times, according to circum- 

 stances ; the former especially when the herrings are scattered, the 

 latter when they are densely aggregated. Each drift-net boat in Loch 

 Fyne is worked by usually three, sometimes only two, men. The nets 

 may number from ten or twelve to eighteen or more in the train or 

 fleet; the meshes range from about 31 to 34 in a yard, and the complete 

 nets may cost <£80, while the seine net is much cheaper, costing from 

 .£20 to <£30 or <£34. The drift net is used in the familiar way, floating 

 or drifting as a wall of netting towards the surface of the sea, at a 

 depth which depends upon the length allowed to the buoy-ropes, and 

 which may extend to thirty-five or forty fathoms from the surface. The 

 seine, or so-called " trawl," is said to have been first used in Loch Fyne 

 in 1838, and was then improvised from a drift-net. It is about 150 to 

 180 yards in length when mounted ready for use, and of the same depth 

 throughout, which may be as much as twenty fathoms, or 120 feet, from 

 top to bottom. It has no " cod " or pocket, but the central part, which 

 is called the bag, differs in having somewhat smaller meshes than the 

 sides or wings, ranging about 35 or 36 to the yard, and they are made 

 of stronger twine, since the pressure is greatest on this part of the net 

 when it is being hauled. In the wings or sides the meshes are about 33 

 to 35 to the yard.* The rope along the upper edge of the net is corked 

 at intervals of about two feet, and the sole rope is weighted at intervals 

 with leaden sinkers, so that the net when in use floats perpendicularly, 

 the upper edge being at the surface. The bottom, or draw- rope, by 

 which the net is hauled, may be from 200 to 300 fathoms in length. 

 While the drift net is managed by three men from one boat, the seine 

 employs two boats with four men in each, or eight in all. The seine 

 may be used from the shore and in shallow water as in ordinary ground- 

 seining, and is then termed " scringing " ; in such cases the net sweeps 

 the bottom, and ground fishes, as plaice and dabs, may be captured. It 

 is also used in deep water when the lower edge of the net is far distant 

 from the bottom, and this is termed " ringing " or " circling." The 

 mode of shooting and hauling is as follows : — When herrings are found 

 one of the two boats passes one end of the rope to the other boat (which 

 remains stationary), and then moves away paying out the net as it goes, 

 and after making a wide sweep or circle returns to the stationary boat. 

 The net is then hauled by the crews, care being taken to prevent the 

 enclosed herrings from striking downward and escaping by drawing the 

 lower edge of the net under them as the circle contracts, and this edge 

 being brought on board, the herrings are contained in a bag formed 

 by the breadth of the net, and are thus brought to the surface. They 

 are then scooped out with baskets into the boat. A varying number of 

 herrings are also meshed in attempting to make their way out through 

 the meshes. Enormous hauls of herrings are sometimes taken with 

 these seines, amounting, it may be, to over 200,000 fish, and the value 

 of a single catch may reach several hundred pounds. The nets 

 occasionally burst from the mass of fish enclosed. On the other hand, 

 long intervals may elapse before a profitable haul is secured. 



*The following particulars are given by one of the makers : — Bag — 50 yards long. 40 

 score meshes deep, 3G rows to yard, 42/12 ply cotton. Shoulder — 25 yards long on each 

 side of bag, 40 score meshes deep, 35 rows to the yard, 45/12 ply cotton. Wings — 75 

 yards on each side of shoulder, 40 score meshes deep, 35 rows to the yard, 40/9 ply 

 cotton. The whole length is 250 yards, which, when set up in ropes, wiil hang about 

 180 yards. 



