He said the sites off Hyannis were developed 15 years ago to target squid. The primary problem was with large vessels offshore catching just about everything that moves. They are a much bigger problem than the weirs. Athearn, who lives in Centerville, may not own waterfront property, but he enjoys pulling off the road on a spring day, and looking between the big homes that now dominate the waterfront, at the fishing weirs. Made of netting hung from long posts driven into the ocean bottom, the weirs, or fish traps, are erected every March to catch migrating schools of fish.
Traps are in the water only during the three months of the spring migration.
It is a way of fishing that pre-dates European settlers. Things look familiar, even from a distance. The fishing weirs are such a fixture on the Cape that the Coast Guard puts them on maps as aids to navigation. By regulation, they are marked with three lanterns, including one at either end of the long leader net, and are equipped with radar reflectors. According to Cape Cod Times archives, only one fatality has occurred around a weir.