Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-05-19

so that they have to pull agains; the tide.
A few hundred herring are found gillei in
the meshes. and this is tho only indication
thus far that any fish have been Enclosed
In the net, which has swept such tre-
mendous expanse Of water. The two gangs
OF men. which are abou5 100 yards apart,
now begin to move slowly toward each
other. pulling in as they go. This Is cor
tinued until they Rave approached within
80 feet of each other. by which time the
water within the constantly narrow ing
limits inclosed by the seine fairly glistens
with the silvery fms and tails of the CAP.
tured fish, which are frantically endeavor-
ing to escape. A man follows the back
OF the seine, beating the water with an oar,
to frtghten the fish toward the center and
to relieve the pressure against the net.
Fifty men are now working with the seine.
The water in which those nearest the shore
are standing is about knee deep. while
those farthest out are up above their
waists. At this juncture a number of
board planks are placed end to end in the
water, reaching from one side of the OPEN
ing between The men to the other, the tops
or the boards extending several inches
above the surface. This effectually closes
every possible avenue of escape for the
nsh The seine is now gradually worked
past the ends Of the boards the Enclosure
In which the fish are held getting smaller
and smaller. until the length of the cork
line still in the water about corresponds
with the length of the board line, i.e., 80
or 60 feet, when the moment for the final
now moved slowly toward the boards un-
I'll Ii touches the bottom of them. 1t is
then carefully secured by the men, and at
a signal from the captain, raised out of
the water. The scene which follows almost
defies description. The fish are all re-
tanned between the cork and lead lines,
this being the widest part of the seine, the
middle, of course, resting on the bottom
the men, holding up the sides or walls of
the net, standing SO close as to almost
touch each other. The water, which is
about waist deep, Is churned into foam
by the thousands of struggling fish, held
in this comparatively small Enclosure, not
over GO feet long by 20 feet wide and il
would seem that surely the climax of ami
NAL activity had been reached. Nearly
everything appears to be herring, but &C.
casionally larger fish are seen plunging
through the mass; these are shad.
Shoveling I'm the Fish.
A large lighter is now brought alongside
the net, and the cork line thrown over the
rail. Four or five men, with short dip nets,
get inside the circle, and, standing in the
seething mass of struggling fish. commence
to shovel them into the scow. The fish
beat a merry tattoo on the bottom of the
boat as they are thrown in. Soon, however,
the bottom is covered and the pile rapidly
deepens The fish on top are all Topping
vigorously, displaying a scene of the most
Intense activity and bewildering the eye
to look upon IT. The incessant pattar of
Such multitude OF nsh IN their expiring
movements is unlike any other sound ever
heard. The shad are separated from the
herring, counted and put in a compart-
ment to themselves, many of them being
splendid specimens. At the haul of which
this is a particular description nearly Io0,-
DOC herring were taken, and over 500 shad,
representing an aggregate weight of abou.
1900 pounds, which tested the carrying
capacity of the lighter. AS to the herring
this was considered a good haul, being
above the average, while as to the shad it
was somewhat below the average. The
largest number of shad ever taken with
this seine at single haul was 5000, and of
herring about 100000. Within a few min
utes after the lighter was loaded the tug
having IL in tow was steaming toward
Washington, and the haul of the largest
seine in the world, so far as is known, was
ended, the whole time consumed, from
commencement to finish, being six hours.