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-$YKE NETS AND FYKE-NET FISHERIES. 
The fyke is not absent from the waters of Southern Europe. The fishermen of 
the Adriatic Sea employ a number of forms of this net, which is in some instances 
combined with seines and trawls. 
The form of net called the cogolo seems to correspond very closely with the 
simpler fykes in this country and is the essential feature of the more elaborate nets. 
The cogolo is described* as a hempen net made in the shape of a long conical bag, 
narrowing by degrees to the tail end, and held open by successive hoops ( cercliietti ). 
It is composed of different parts: the first, called chiara , is large-meshed; the second 
is the busto , and is made of smaller meshes; the third is the mezzana , made of still 
smaller meshes; last comes the pillela or piela, the purse, made of very coarse and 
strong twine and very small-meshed, into which the fish enter through a kind of very 
narrow funnel called enca. Once inside, they become packed, and are unable to turn 
back. It is also used for catching eels in the fishing ponds ( valli cliiuse). 
A form of apparatus consisting of a seine combined with a cogolo is known as 
bragagna among the Adriatic fishermen and is fished from a boat called braganella. 
The boat, having previously cast anchor at a short distance off, hauls in the anchor 
chain on a roller ( molinello ), thus drawing the net in its wake. The net has no floats 
to keep up the head, but is held stretched in the water by a series of sticks fixed verti- 
cally along the two wings and around the mouth of the bag. At the end of each of 
the wings there is a small cogolo with three hoops, with the opening in an opposite 
direction to that of the middle bag. It is well weighted at the foot ( ima ) to keep it 
down, and the drag-rope ends are attached to the bows and the poop, the boat moving 
broadside on (in fianco), the net grazing the ground; it is worked by day or night, on 
muddy beds, in shallow water, in creeks and lagoons, chiefly for gobies and small 
shore fish. Length, 20 in.; depth, 4 m.; mesh, cm.; price, 60 florins. 
Another net in which the fyke principle is an essential feature is operated in the 
Adriatic Sea. It is known as the cocchia or coccia, and is used exclusively by the 
Cliioggiotti. It is drawn by two boats ( brogazzi ) under sail, each boat running par- 
allel to the other and drawing one end of the net, which is held by drag ropes (alzana) 
40 to 50 fathoms in length. It is worked, by preference, against the current, over 
muddy grounds by day, the mud raised by the passage of the net clouding the 
water and shutting out the light, which renders the fish confused and motionless, 
whereby they become an easy prey. At night it is worked over rocky beds. The 
depth of water in which operated varies from 20 to 50 fathoms. 
The structure of this net differs from that of the seine ( tratta ) in the shape of the 
bag ( sacco or pctnza), which in this case is conical, measuring 5 to 6 fathoms across at 
the opening and narrowing by degrees to 8 to 10 feet in diameter. Here commences 
a kind of funnel, which is kept open by means of hoops and ends in a purse, the 
opening of which measures 5 feet across, and the ends of which are gathered and 
secured by a rope. This has simply to be undone when the net is hauled on deck and 
the fish fall out at the end. The funnel and purse are known as the cogolo and form 
about one-half of the total depth of the bag, which is 6 fathoms. The cogolo is gener- 
ally inclosed in a second net of coarse string in order to protect it against the friction 
with the bed and the depredations of the dolphins, which are apt at times to injure the 
net. The length of the wings or arms is often as much as 30 fathoms each, the depth 
* The Fisheries of the Adriatic. By G. L. Faber. London, 1883. 
F. C. B. 1892 23 
