Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-06-30
DEEP SEA TRAVELLING.
WHY SHOULDN'T AMERICANS DO
THIS STYLE OF FISHING?


ratus That Is Dragged Along the Bot
tom of the Ocean-NIr. Daniels Essay
Is the vast area of UNEMPLOYED sea depth
skirting our extensive coasts filled with
edible fishes? There are piscatorial ex-
perts who say that it is, and that the
| fishermen OF Uncle Sam may add enor-
mously to the wealth of the country by
going into the industry of TRAVELLING, in
which millions of British capital are, and
for many years have been, profitably in
vested.
In his consular essay Mr. Daniels tells us
that TRAVELLING "relies for it's capture of fish
upon chasing and overtaking or intercept
ing them by dragging net along in forci
BILE manner at the bottom of the sea-" The
fish thus taken are supposed to be "lying
Sn the ground in a dormant, or compare
lively dormant, condition for the purpose
of feeding, resting, spawning, or other
physical or natural purpose" THE trawl
net" Mr.. Daniels writes, ''is considered to
be a very peculiar machine"
st consists of the net, the beam, the
ground rope. and the trawlheads. 1t is
usually about 100 feet long and so feet
wide. The net is made up in several parts,
the meshes of which vary in size from
three to six inches. The shape of the net
Is such as to form large, open mouth, the
| upper part of which-the top jaw as it NAV
| be termed-is elevated about four feet
| above the ground. The bottom part,
| which drags along the ground, is of semi
| circular shape, and attached to it is large.
roughly constructed rope, called the ground
| rope, which may be compared to a pIow-
share in its relation to TRAVELLING operations,
as it goes slightly under the surface of the
| ground, or, if not, presses closely upon it.
so that the fish which are lowering close
to the ground, or even burrowing into it.
are turned out by the rope.
"The trawlbeam, which keeps the mouth
| of the net open, is elevated above the
| ground the necessary distance by an iron
appliance at each end known as the trawI-
| head, into the top part of which the trawl-
beam is mortised. The lower part of the
heads, to which the ends of the ground rope
| are attached. is known as the sole. which
has surface about five inches in width and
| drags along the ground. The trawlheads.
| when used on anything like hard ground,
rapidly wear out. They are constructed
| generally of iron, with steel soles to resist
friction, and weigh from 800 TO 400 pounds.
The trawlbeam is made up, as rule of
two or more pieces of wood strongly scarfed
together. The beam contains about thirty.
Eve cubic feet of wood, and NAV be taken
| altogether TO weigh some three fourths of
O ton.
NE net is constructed in four pieces,
namely, back, baitings, belly and wings,
The back is usually square piece, but by
means of gatherings and increasinss a
shape is given to the net which corresponds
to large tapering bag. There are many
pecullarities in the design and construc-
| tion of the net in order to give it a suitable
shape. The lower or tail end portion, tech
nically known as the cod end is where the
smaller mesh is found the upper portion
having large mesh simply to guide the
fish down to the lower portion, where thew
are entrapped or inclosed. In the part
near to the cod end there are certain in
trlcacles in the net, some known as pockets
and others as fiappers or valves, so that
when the fish are taken, instead of being
able to pass out of the net in returning up
ward, they are prevented from doing so by
these intricacies. A great deal of ingenuity
has been exercised at divers times with a
view OF designing net which would en-
able the immature and worthless fish to
escape and retain the larger and more
marketable kind, but in all such ATTEMPTS
it has been found that the greater con
sideration of taking fish would have to be
sacrificed to the lesser one of discrimina-
ton, and therefore the trawlnet as Mt
present constructed, must be accepted as a
machine which refuses nothing that hap
pens to be in its way. 1t is the most com
plete and destructive fish net that it is DOS
sible for ingenuity to devise"
The vessels which drag the ponderous
trawlnet over the ocean floor operate sin
gly and in fleets. The sailing trawler is
limited in her operations only by the direc-
ton and force of the wind which are hard
ly taken into consideration by the modern
steam trawler. The trawlnet is dragged
with the tide. When the wind is blowing
in an opposite direction from the tide the
sailing trawler beats to windward. The
ropes by which the trawl net is dragged
along astern of the fishing vessels are
called brides, one of which is fastened to
each end of the trawlbeam. At the angle
formed by the junction of the brides there
Is attached, by powerful iron shackle a
very strong rope or warp, which is secured
on board the vessel The length of the
warp necessary for trawl fishing is gener-
ally considered by competent fishermen to
be not less than three times the depth of
the water under the vessels keel. The
length of warp required for North sea
trawl fishing is usually about 900 feet, and
never more than 200 feet The warp is
from seven to eight inches in diameter, and
the bride is usually about six inches in
diameter. The cost of complete set of
trawl gear is about S400
Mr.. Daniels devoted much of his essay
to the port of Grimsby, which is fifteen
miles southeast of Hull, and is called the
metropolis of the fish trade. During the
Lenten season it is not unusual for Grims-
by to send away by rail in one day from
| GOO to 800 tons of fish. Nearly $4,000 tons
was brought into this the greatest of fish
ing ports, in 1891. The Grimsby fisher
men were the first Britons to enter the
trawling industry. The Hollanders were
the pioneers. They had been engaged in
trawl fishing in the Zuyder Zee for many
years before the English ventured into the
North sea for the fishing grounds Of the
Dogger Bank.