210 
Part tll. — Ninth Annual Report 
sists of three hoops, one in the centre and one at either end, each 24 
millimetres (about an inch) broad, and 8 millimetres (a third of an inch) 
thick, and of eight bars of similar width and thickness, fastened to the 
outside of the hoops, at equal distances apart. The frame, except half of 
one segment, which is fitted with a wooden door (B), is covered with 
netting, the mesh of which is 10 millimetres (about two-fifths of an inch) 
from knot to knot. The netting at the ends is arranged, as in the ordinary 
lobster creels, in funnel fashion, the ' eyes ' or openings (A A) having a 
diameter of 8 centimetres (about 8 inches), and being placed opposite 
one another, 20 centimetres (about 3 inches) apart. The trap is baited 
in France with pieces of angler fish or skate, suspended about half-way 
between the top and the axis of the trap (F), and it is sunk by affixing 
stones (CO) to the projecting ends of two bars, each 42 inches long by 
1 J inch broad and half an inch thick, which are fastened to the bottom of 
the trap, 20 centimetres (about 8 inches) apart. Each trap has a suitable 
length of cord attached (DD) to a float (E), to indicate its position, 
and for the purpose of hauling it up. At Croisic each boat manages from 
twenty -five to thirty traps, which are hauled up and emptied each morning. 
They are used by preference on muddy bottoms, and on bottoms covered 
by marine algae, from the 1st of November to the 1st of May; and from 
the beginning of the fishing up to 1st January they are placed about 200 
yards from the coast, in a depth of 7 fathoms. From 1st January to 
15th March they are anchored at another p irt of the coast, where the 
depth is about 14 fathoms. At Croisic this mode of shrimp-fishing 
is practised by a hundred boats and three hundred fishermen,, and the 
average annual catch is about 80,000 kilogrammes (1576 cwts.), valued 
at 220,000 francs. MM. Giard and Koussin, in their Report to the 
French Miinster of Marine above referred to, recommended that the 
use of the shrimp-trawl should be prohibited on the French littoral, and 
that every means should be taken to extend the use of shrimp-traps. I 
am, however, informed by M. Eaveret-Wattell, the obliging Secretary 
of the Soci^te Nationale d'Acclimatation de France, who was good enough 
to obtain information from the French Minister on the subject, that the 
trap is at present only used at Croisic. Efforts have been made to diffuse 
a knowledge of its use at other parts of the coast, but the fishermen else- 
where do not look upon it favourably. An official trial of the apparatus 
has been made on a fairly large scale in the maritime department of 
Nantes. A large number of traps wwe bought by the administrative 
authorities and distributed in the districts of Nantes, Croisic, St Nazaire, 
Paimboeuf, and Noirmoutier ; but the results up to the present as 
regards the quantities of shrimps caught are not very encouraging. The 
shrimp-trawl, therefore, continues to be preferred, and its use is author- 
ised or permitted at different parts of the coast as follows : — 1st Arron- 
dissement — Calais, Boulogne-sur-mer, St Valery-sur-Somme, Gravelines, 
Dunkerque, Trouville, Dieppe, Le Havre ; 2nd Arrondissement — Con- 
carneau, Quimper, Brest, Le Conquet, Morlain, Laniiion, Bregni^t ; 3rd 
Arrondissement — Noirmoutier, Le Croisic ; 4th Arrondissement — 
Eochefort, Marennes, He de Ee, He d'Oleron, La Eochelle, Marennes, 
Les Tables, St Gilles, He d'Yeu. 
On the North Sea Coast of Germany a variety of methods of shrimp- 
fishing are in vogue, including the use of traps of two kinds — (1) made of 
willow basket-work, like eel-traps {Korbe) ; (2) consisting of a frame- 
w^ork, somewhat similar to that used in France, but made of iron, with 
netting stretched over it (Reusen). 
