170 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Tlie fisli are taken in traps, seines, and gill nets, and transported to the canneries 
on large lighters or fish-scows. It is said that the water is too clear for gill nets, and 
in 1897 they were not used by the Alaska Packers’ Association or the Pacific Steam 
Whaling Company canneries, yet the Hnme cannery seems to have been very successful 
with them. Traps are principally nsed here, and form the great bone of contention. 
At the time of our visit, July 29 to August 2, there were five traps outside the 
entrance to the lagoon, two just inside, and sixteen from the island to the head of 
the arm. They usually consist of a jiot 30 to 40 feet square, with a heart and V-shaped 
leaders from 300 to 1,500 feet long, arranged witli the apex up stream. The mesh of 
jiots is 3-inch, and of leaders usually 4-inch. They are nowhere placed entirely across 
the main channel in the lagoon, but there are two or three which close up the shallow 
channel along the spit on the outside. In iiassing up the lagoon it seems almost 
Chignik L.igoon Trap. 
impossible for any fish to reach the river, for it looks as though a forest of traps 
obstructed the whole jiassage. With two exceptions, one end of the leader is connected 
with the high-water mark on shore. 
The leaders or wings consist of nets hung on the upper side of rows of piles driven 
in a V shape, with a small opening in the upper end. This opening varies from 4 to 8 
feet. The heart is formed by piles driven in an irregular box shape, inclosing the 
ends of the leaders. The nets are hung on the upstream side and, like those of the ends, 
are made fhst at the top only, the bottom being weighted. They reach from above 
high water to the bottom. The pot is above the heart and is a square net bag, hauled 
out to piles at the corners, above and below, by ropes running through blocks. On 
its lower side is the gate, which is the entrance from the heart to the pot. It is a net 
stretched on framework, or having a frame at each end, the upper end being much 
smaller than the lower. It is G to 10 feet wide at its lower end, 1^- to 2 feet wide at its 
