It replaced the seine entirely and became one of the most important pieces of gear used by Newfoundland fishermen. I n 1911, just over 40 years after its invention, Canadian government inspectors recorded the use of 6,530 cod traps in Labrador. By that time too, the trap was being widely used around the coast of Newfoundland. The cod trap was so effective that Captain Whitely's original design continued in use virtually without change for a full century. Construction of a Cod Trap T he cod trap is basically a room, with four walls and a floor, constructed of netting.
Fish enter the trap through a doorway in the front wall.
Extending outward from the centre of the doorway is a long wall of netting which, because of its function of leading fish into the trap, came to be called the leader. The trap is kept upright in the water by floats placed along the top of the walls, and lead weights at the bottom. It is held on location by a system of corner ropes anchored to the sea bottom. T he leader, likewise buoyed and weighted, is tied to the trap at one end and made fast to the shore, or to shoal water rocks near the shore, by ropes and anchors at the other end. All traditional cod traps were alike except in size.