61 
There arc two kinds of nets against which a well founded 
charge has been brought, of causing a useless or extensive de- 
struction of young fishes ; but the difference between them is 
great, both in the amount of injury inflicted, and in the ease 
With which their use may be regulated. 
The Ground Sean as employed in Cornwall, is simply a 
sweep net of indefinite length and depth, according to the 
phallowness of the water, and the extent of clear sjTace it is 
intended to encircle. A district interrupted by rocks or large 
stones does not admit of its employment. Moderately calm 
Weather in the summer or autumn, when the fish wander near 
he shore, is the time chosen, and the morning or evening the 
n, y periods of the day ; and all that seems necessary to 
ender it unobjectionable, is to fix the dimensions of the 
eshes, which should not be less than an inch and half from 
c n °t.to knot; and to forbid the use of a double net, which by 
causing the meshes to cover each other, is even more destruc- 
v c than a single net with meshes of very small size. 
ffle ground scan is not always drawn on the shore with its 
^intents ; but when the middle space is formed into an hollow 
r bunt, it is employed after the manner of a tuck sean, and 
: *t encloses is taken into the boat. It should be born in 
s, ID ?, tbat t* 16 temptation to make the meshes of this net of 
g size, does not chiefly arise from a wish to catch the 
jailer fishes, which would sell for very little in the market; 
w 11 is to prevent the fish from becoming entangled in the 
fisl CS ° f , l ^ C net ’ a ci rcumstance that will add greatly to the 
t ^ Uer man’s labour, with some injury to the fish and more to 
De C Pilchard and Mackarel seans are of the nature of the 
j ® e P or ground net, and were originally the same, of somewhat 
l 1;i 5f r s,ze ancl smaller mesh. The minute size of the latter 
the ^ 6en made lawful by a special enactment, on account of 
U , S^cat importance of the Pilchard fishery; and the fortu- 
e e invention of a tuck sean, by enabling the fisherman to 
l‘a ^ h - a lar S er Principal net and to go further from the shore, 
liot ° ,.'’i !, tcd what might well have been feared, the destruc- 
Tl a ^ ar » e { l U! *ntity of small fishes, 
tioo * raw * i“ i ts present form is probably a modern inven- 
cflic’i an< * * na - y be to have attained its present state of 
at | en °y l*y a gradual process of improvement. Its use has 
son, increased within the space of half a century, though 
q e h ln g lii <e jt seems to have, been known in the age of 
* atl : and I Lave been informed by an individual then 
*nor r * n lbe fish «ry, that in the year 1781, there were no 
e , than two vessels so employed, from the port of Ply- 
hoth being open or without a deck, and neither ex- 
‘noutb. 
ecedim, ,, , UCII, g °P el 
same t . burtllen of 25 tons. The number now from the 
Place is but litilo short of thirty, of about the average 
