The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-05
F~rsHERMEN,s NETS.
Once All Made by Esheemea -sNow Almost
Ali Made BY REactinery.

Ohce All NAo00 by EIBuOtmou@ N0W AtulOet
All Made BY Machinery.
There was a time. and this not moro than
forty years ago. when every fisherman
made all his own nets. big and little. doing
the work in winter, when fishing was prae-
tically II not wholly suspended. 1t might
be that the fisherman and his whole family
would be engaged In this work. In those
days farmers daughters might como In
TO help the h~shermen's daughters at their
work. So IL was once In many Q fishing
community; a. Il was. for instance, years
ago along the shores OF Gfavesend Bay.
But while there are yet scattered hero
and there o few who still keep up the old
custom the great majority Of 1shermen
now buy their nets already made. For.
like DO many other things that onoO were
made altogether by hand. hshermen's nets
are nov made In factories by machinery
and In these days q fisherman can buy his
nets cheaper than he oan make them.
In their greater subdivisions as TO use
nets are known a. pound nets. seines, or
drag nets, and gill nets. Briefly described,
a pound net consists Of an enclosure Of
netting supported In the water on stakes
and reaching from the bottom to the top
VI ~ W6OOIt VIII u lOooCt u hoSsAh8 "a
tending athwart the natural course Of
the fish. to intercept the fab and lead them
into the pound. The manner Of use Of the
seine, or drag net, lie indicated by Its name.
Gill nets are commonly set stationary;
but there are also drift gill nets. which are
buoved. to move with the tide.
The netting for fishermen's nets ID made
in great variety, as to thO depth OF the
netting, its mesh and the kind and weight
Of the material used. The complicated
and costly machines that constitute the
equipment Of q netting factory perform
their work with perfect accuracy. Twine
is fed into them from two sets Of reels or
bobbins into mechanical teeth which tie
the knots accurately spaced and as firmly
and securely as any fisherman could tie
them by hand.
Fishermen's netting, Of whatever sort,
is commonly sold by the pound, unless 1t
should be a net completely fitted up; as
fishermen commonly prefer to hang their
own nets; that IL, to at them up with the
floats required, II any, and with the leads,
or whatever other equipment may be re-
quired to bring them into use. by the pound
is the common manner Of sale; and n can
buy five feet or fifty feet Of any sort Of net
or enough for a panel for a pound
net, or for a leader, or q mile Of gill net.
You can buy any sort Of netting In any guam
tity, more or less. that you may desire.
The greater part Of the netting for fish
ermen's use produced In this country lie
made in the East. in large factories long
established at a number Of localities on the
Atlantic ,seaboard; more recently there
have beer established q netting factory
in Chicago and one in Seattle. There is
some gill netting imported from England
into this county for use on the Pacific Coast,
but on the other hand American netting Is
to all the Spanish American
countries Of this hemisphere and some has
been sent to South Africa.
But while this is N as to all netting used
general fishing purposes, there are
smaller nets OF one kind that are still made
by hand, these the familiar hand, or dip,
nets: this for the reason that. wonderful
as the netting machines are, they have not
yet been adapted to making nets in shapes;
dip nets. counting sizes and shapes and
materials and sizes Of mesh, there would be
found a hundred or more varieties and
these are still all made by hand, and not
in shops but in homes. by workers in fami-
lies, as once all nets we're made.
One New York dealer In nets and fish
supplies has all bis dip nets made
in Maine. At regular intervals, he sends
down supplies Of the various kinds OF Irvine
TO his agent In Maine, who distributes
these materials to the workers he has on his
The net makers may be engaged
In other occupations in the summer. hut in
winter they set to work on the nets, which.
due time completed, are gathered up
and shipped back. to be sold here.