FYKE NETS AND FYKE-NET FISHERIES. 
321 
shore and makes an acute angle with the free end, which projects toward the mouth 
of the net, the whole forming a pocket from which the fish are led into the net. 
A few interesting early references to fyke-net Ashing on the shores of Staten 
Island have been met with. In a paper on “Agriculture in Richmond County,” con- 
tained in the New York State Agricultural Report for 1842, the following statement 
occurs under the head of “spring and fall like fishing”: 
There are also other inhabitants of the ocean frequenting the southern shores of the island 
which divert attention from farming. In the cool weather of spring and autuipn small likes are set, 
extending but a short distance into the water, for taking the smaller kinds of fish which run with 
the tides close along shore, and furnish a domestic supply. Among them, however, are sometimes 
fish of a larger size, and such as are taken with the hook and line in deeper waters. In these likes 
are taken: Blackfish ( Labrus tautoga), striped bass (Perea mitchilli), weakfish ( Labrus squeteague), 
kingfish ( Sciwna nebulosa), tomcod or frostfish ( Gadus tomcodus), flounder (Pleuronectes planus), the 
scientific names being from Mitchill’s New York Fishes. 
The same paper has this additional reference to fyke nets: 
On Staten Island the seine or draw net is sometimes employed in taking shad, but the like or 
stationary hoop net is principally used to capture- them. Along the southern and eastern shore of the 
island, every person who has a farm fronting -on the water where the shad run, has his like or likes 
prepared in due season, and set at a proper distance from the shore. The like is lifted at every low 
tide and the fish taken out. If the proprietor takes more than is required for his own consumption, 
the surplus is sent to the New York market. Occasionally, in some situations, the fishery is more pro- 
ductive than the farm. But in the memory of the writer the run of shad has very much diminished. 
At the present time the principal species taken in this region are alewives, catfish, 
eels, white pet A, shad, and striped bass, the most valuable being catfish, eels, and shad. 
In ten counties on the Hudson River fyke nets are employed in greater or less 
quantities. They are most numerous and important in Albany, Rensselaer, Orange, 
and Rockland counties. They are mostly simple two-lioop, three-hoop, and four-hoop 
nets, with short wings and leader, such as are referred to on page 307. In the lower part 
of the river they are set in water 40 to fiO feet deep, but in the upper course of the 
stream they are mostly placed in 10 to 20 feet of water. The chief fishes taken are 
catfish, perch, striped bass, and suckers. 
From the following tables the extent of the fyke-net fishery in each county can be 
seen. After Suffolk County, which has the most important fishery, the principal 
counties are Kings, Queens, and Westchester, in each of which the value of the prod- 
ucts is more than $2,000. 
Fishermen. 
Counties. 
Number. 
Albany 
5 
Columbia 
10 
Dutchess 
5 
Greene 
4 
Kings 
23 
Orange 
7 
Putnam 
2 
Queens 
25 
Rensselaer 
Richmond 
18 
Rockland 
17 
Suffolk 
424 
Ulster 
5 
Westchester 
24 
Total 
577 
F. C. B. 1892 21 
