of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



251 



The so called " trammel " is not a trammel, but a simple set or ground 

 net. It consists essentially of a strip of drift net, sixty to eighty 

 meshes deep, the upper rope being corked and the lower weighted at 

 intervals with stones, each end being anchored and its position indicated 

 by a buoy. The net thus stands erect in the water close to the bottom 

 and rising six or seven feet above it ; it is placed across the tide. Two 

 trains, each of about 240 fathoms in length, are usually employed by 

 each boat, and the meshes range about 32 to 34 to the yard. This 

 mode of fishing is effective on spawning grounds in comparatively 

 shallow water, as at Ballantrae Bank, the herrings at the spawning 

 season keeping close to the bottom while engaged in the deposition and 

 fertilisation of the eggs. The "trammels" are left to fish in the sea 

 from day to day, the fishermen at Ballantrae visiting them each 

 morning, if the weather permits, when they are lifted, the herrings 

 removed from them, and again set. In stormy weather the nets may 

 not be visited for several days ; they are not infrequently driven away 

 in heavy gales. 



The operations of the three modes of fishing in relation to the capture 

 of immature herrings or the destruction of the deposited spawn of 

 herring are these — (1) the drift net floats freely in the water towards 

 the surface or near it, with the meshes open, and the herrings in darting 

 through the water run against it. Small herrings, as those under six 

 and a half inches or thereabout, and many somewhat larger, pass 

 through the meshes and escape being caught, but the larger herrings 

 are meshed, usually behind the gills ; very large herrings may not be 

 meshed, or only insecurely by the head. The drift net is therefore not 

 adapted to capture very small herrings, and it secures a greater 

 uniformity in the size of the fish caught than is the case with the seine 

 net. The drift net is set in the evening and hauled at a varying hour 

 in the morning — in Loch F}uie usually about 3 a. m. — and the herrings 

 caught may be alive or dead according to the time they were meshed, and, 

 still more, according to the state of the sea. The buoys at the surface 

 suspending the net rise and fall with the waves, and in a rough sea 

 the upward jerk given to the net proves fatal to many of the herrings. 

 Drift-net fishing can scarcely ever affect deposited spawn. 



(2) The seine net when being hauled must also have the meshes for the 

 most part open, as has been shown to be the case with the beam-trawl net ; 

 but the strain at certain parts must tend to contract the aperture. In 

 the ordinary course of fishing numbers of small herrings enclosed in the 

 seine must make their escape through the meshes, and many larger 

 herring are frequently meshed in this way. When, however, a large 

 mass of fish is encircled, it is evident that comparatively few of the small 

 herrings which may be enclosed can escape during the time taken to 

 haul the net. In the cases that came under observation the herrings 

 caught by the seine were as a rule alive and vigorous when the net was 

 hauled. The seine net from its mode of operation is therefore adapted 

 to capture greater quantities of young and immature herrings than the 

 drift net. And since the lower leaded edge of the seine may reach to a 

 depth of 18 or 20 fathoms, and in shallow water is dragged along the 

 bottom, its action on a spawning ground within its reach must disturb 

 to some extent and to a less extent destroy herring spawn deposited 

 there. 



(3) The set net or "trammel " fishes in the same manner as the drift net, 

 the herrings being meshed by their own movements in swimming about ; 

 and the smaller herrings escape capture by passing through the meshes. 

 When used, as at Ballantrae Bank, on a spawning ground, a certain 

 amount of deposited spawn must be disturbed or injured in the process 



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