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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF FYKE NETS. 
There is perhaps no type of fishery apparatus employed in the United States that 
presents more varied shapes and peculiarities than the fyke net; and a collection of 
fyke nets drawn from the various countries of the world would perhaps be the most 
heterogeneous aggregation of related fishing appliances that could be brought together. 
The differences in form arise from variations in the shape of the individual parts and 
in the arrangement of the parts with reference to each other. Among the principal 
causes which have produced the widely divergent styles the following may be 
mentioned : 
(1) The nature of the fishing-ground, the depth of the water, the character of the 
bottom, the direction of the tide or current, and the contour or structure of the shore 
are modifying influences. 
(2) The kinds of fish or other animals sought. A net adapted to the capture of 
one fish is often of little service in taking another species. 
(3) The idiosyncrasy of the fishermen. Being a comparatively cheap and uncom- 
plicated form of apparatus, the ingenuity and inventive genius of the fishermen have 
an opportunity to assert themselves and are no doubt to be credited with many of 
the peculiar types in local use. 
In the accompanying descriptions, the following parts of fyke nets will be men- 
tioned, which may here be briefly defined : 
The net proper . — This includes all the essential parts of a fyke, and is referred to in 
contradistinction to the accessory parts, such as the leader, wings, lines, authors, etc. 
It is variously known as the bag, pocket, bowl, and pot. The names pot and bowl 
are sometimes restricted to the final apartment of the fyke in which the fish usually 
congregate and from which they are taken; this is also called the tail. It is usually 
closed by means of a cord known as the purse string or puckering string. 
The hoops . — These constitute the framework of the bag. They are usually made 
of flat wooden strips, but are sometimes of iron. They are generally round, but are 
sometimes elliptical; in some forms of nets one or more semicircular hoops are used, 
and in a rare style of fyke the part which corresponds with the first hoop is rectan- 
gular. The number of hoops used in this country varies from 2 to 15, the most com- 
mon numbers being 3 to 6. The first hoop is usually larger than the others, but in 
some nets all are of the same size. There is a great variation in the sizes, the 
extremes being 8 inches and 15 feet; a large majority, however, are from 2 to 6 feet 
in diameter. They are held in place by being included within the meshes of the bag. 
The funnels. — These, known also as throats or valves, are the characteristic 
parts of a fyke. They consist simply of cones of netting, one end of which is attached 
to the hoops while the other end is suspended from them. The size of the funnels 
bears a close relation to that of the hoops; the entrance into the funnel is usually the 
same size as the hoop; the small end of the funnel varies from a few inches to a foot in 
diameter, depending on the kinds of products taken as well as on the general size of 
the net. The number of funnels varies; some fykes have a funnel to each hoop; in 
some there is a funnel for every alternate hoop, while a single funnel is found in a few 
nets. The purpose of the fuunel is to prevent the escape of the fish, and the greater 
the number of funnels the less the chances are that an animal will find its way out of 
the net. The length of the funnels usually corresponds with. the distance which the 
hoops are apart; in some types, however, the funnels extend through 3 to 5 hoops. 
