BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION^ 399 
most commonly operated by two boats working together, in a manner 
precisely similar to the method practiced by the Spanish fishermen for 
working the large u bou-net.” 
3. Apparatus. 
The beam-trawls used on the German vessels are the same as those 
employed by English fishermen, the latter having been taken as the 
standard. 
4. Methods of Fishing. 
The methods adopted by the Germans are like those of the English, 
as might naturally be expected, when it is stated that fishermen from 
the east coast of England have been employed by German firms to act 
in the capacity of experts or instructors in this branch of the fisheries. 
The vessels fish singly, each marketing its own catch, and on some 
occasions the fish have been sold in English ports. 
E. Spain. 
The use of the beam-trawl in Spain is, I think, of recent date, though 
other forms of trawls or drag-nets have long been employed in that 
country. 
One of the most common forms is worked by two boats, each of 
which is attached to and tows one wing of the net. This is used ex- 
tensively on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. It is called a u bou 
net,” or, sometimes, a u parella,” or “parenzella.” 
Of late years, however, several screw steam trawlers have been built 
in Scotland for the Spanish fisheries. These are owned at San Sebas- 
tian. They are fine, seaworthy, ketch-rigged vessels of 35 to 70 tons 
and well adapted for beam trawling, which they carry on chiefly in the 
Bay of Biscay. 
1. The “ Bou net ” or Parella. 
It is believed that the “ parella,” which is probably identical with 
the Italian parenzella, was invented in the sixteenth century. This 
name, according to Captain Commerma, means a pair in the Catalan 
language. It is applied to a plow that two oxen are required to work, 
and likewise to this net, which is towed by two boats. The net has 
two long arms or wings, the lower edges of which are weighted with 
small sinkers, while the upper edges are raised from the bottom, and, 
consequently, the mouth of the net is kept open by a number of cork 
floats. The arms are 130 meshes, or about 3J fathoms deep (the size of 
mesh being 2 inches) and 7 fathoms long, the cork rope and ground rope 
having nearly the same curve; the body of the net, from where it is 
joined by the wings, tapers so as to form a cone 11 yards long, which 
is joined by a small neck to the end, the extremity of which is flat and 
spread out considerably ; this end corresponds to the “cod” of a beam- 
