((J) f 1f IH[ IE UWTI1fIEITJ) §1f A 1fIE§ ----­= / =- ~ / -- - --=-- - -=-..::::- - ~ --=- Circular 109 United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Washington 25 I D. c. The front cover shows a sketch of a typical converted tuna purse seiner completing a set. The California deep-sea tuna fishing fleet, once a fleet of bait boats or clippers, is rapidly converting to this method of fishing. There were about 67 con­ verted purse seiners operating by the end of 1960. The success of these conversions has been outstanding. Tuna seiners demonstrated both efficiency and economy in 1960 by taking larger catches of yellowfin tuna in less than half the time requ!red by clippers. Their success was reflected in low­ er operating costs; their fish was sold at profitable prices. United States Department of the Interior, Stewart L. Uda ll, Secretary Fish and Wildlife Service, Clarence F. Pautzke, Commissioner Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Donald L. McKe rna n, Dire ctor COMMERCIAL FISHING GEAR OF THE UNITED STATES By Wm . H. Dumont Assistant Chief (retired) Branch of Statistics and G. T. Sundstrom Visual Art Specialist Branch of Marketing FISH AND WILDLIFE CIRCULAR 109 PUBLISHED BY UNITED STATES FI H A! ' D WILDLIFE ERVICE . \\A HI. GTO. • 1 1 PRI TED BY UNITED TATE GOVERNME.;T PRI!I.'TI. G OFFIC • W.l, HI. fO. DC For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, US Government Prin.ing Office, Washington 25,0 C • Pr c 40 c PI, PREFACE The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries collects information on the qua ntity and I in many instances I the size of the gear used by commercial fishermen to capture fish and shellfish. The classification and reporting of data on gear and the catch by gear have been difficult due to the many local names of fishing gear and the lack of uniformity between areas . In an effort to bring about standardization in the classification of gear I this report I containing definitions and sketches of the principal types of fishing gear I was prepared. The original intention of this paper was to pro­ vide Bureau personnel with a guide in this reporting and tabulating of data on operating units and catch. However I since it is believed that the de­ scriptions' and drawings are of general interest I the report has been made available for public distribution. The authors gratefully acknowledge all contributions to this report I especially the descriptions and sketches furnished by field personnel of the Bureau and the assistance of Francis Riley in assembling the material for publication. ii q CONTENTS Page Preface ... ii Introduction 1 Descriptions and Sketches Encircling or Encompassing Gear 4 Entrapment Gear . 10 Entanglement Gear. 22 Lines ..... 26 Scooping Gear .. 31 Impaling or Wounding Gear • 35 Shellfish Gear • . 36 Miscellaneous Gear • 45 Glossary •....... 50 Selected Literature on Fishing Methods and Gears. 58 Index . r - • • • 60 iii 19th CENTURY FISHING OPERATIONS The shore cod fishery by H. W. Elliott and Captain J. W. Collins \-...... - -=--" ----....-:---- The turtle fishery by H. W. Elliott - -- ... ----- ----- "-" "'= ::.:-------- - - --"---"" .~ -- "- .. --.. ---. "-- -- - -- -"=-­ Sketches published in 1887 in The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States by George Brown Goode. iv COMMERCIAL FISHING GEAR OF THE UNITED STATES INTRODUCTION The art of fishing is ancient. It goes onists. Salt fish was the principal item of Jack to an early and indefinite age; man export and history contains accounts of the was a fisher at the dawn of history. Le­ exploits of the picturesque and prosperous ;Tend has it that Seth, son of Adam, taught handline and linetrawl sailing schooners it to his sons. They passed it on to pos­ which fished the fishing banks. terity. From every age, the story of the fisherman has come down to us in fables, Fishing gear, which formerly develop­ some older than the Sphinx. Evidence of the ed slowly by trial and error, has advanced use of the spear, hook, and fish net has rapidly in the past 60 years. Generations been found in the ruins of the Stone Age. that produced the fishing schooners and the Nets and lines were depicted in the art of New Bedford whalers passed into tradition; early civilizations. mechanization and the introduction of more efficient equipment revolutionized the fish­ Primitive man made hooks from the upper ing industry. bill of the eagle, the hind legs of insects, and from bones, horns, and thorn plants. From primitive nets there have been Spears were derived from flints and shells. perfected purse seines, otter trawls, mile­ Lines and the webbing of nets were made long gill nets of various designs, and gi­ from fibers of leaves, stalks of plants, gantic trap and pound nets. Hooks by the and from the silk of cocoons. Although hundreds are used on one line, called the crude in design and material, ancient fish­ "long line . " Some purse seines, made of ing nets were amazingly similar to some synthetic twine, are valued as high as 40 now in use. thousand dollars or more; while new ves­ sels, built to fish the hook in its simplest At the beginning of our American fish­ form, cost almost a million dollars to con­ eries -- over three hundred years ago -­ struct. Large English and Soviet factory t here was little incentive for fishermen to ships, designed as stern trawlers to fish, go offshore to distant fishing banks when process , and freeze the catch at sea, cost local waters were so productive. The yield several million dollars. from these waters provided the necessary requirements of fish and shellfish. Hand­ Outstanding in the march of progres s lining from small skiffs and sail craft was in fishing techniques was the appearance, the standard method of taking the daily since the turn of the century, of diesel-pro­ catch; small weirs or traps in river mouths pelled vessels which have nearly replaced and harbors took quantities of migrating the steam-driven and sail craft. Another fish; and shore fishermen used beach seines step in the trend toward fully mechanized or worked the intertidal flats for oysters and fishing was the power handling of gear. shellfish. But as America grew, economic The purse seine came into general use. Re­ pressures forced our fishermen to extend cently, power blocks to haul the seine and their activities offshore. The yield of the airplanes to spot the schools of fish have sea soon became the most important com­ greatly improved the efficiency of this gear. mercial resource available tothe early col- The first mechanically propelled otter traw- 1 ler began successful operation in 1905 on Data are collected annually by the Bu­ New England banks, starting a rapid tran­ reau of Commercial Fisheries on the quan­ sition to the trawling method of fishing. tity of gear employed and the catch taken Later., in the shrimp fishery, the otter trawl by each type. However, confusion has oc­ replaced the haul seine and has been the curred in compiling the data because there major gear used in the expansion of that has been little uniformity in gear terminol-· fishery. ogy throughout the country. Local name are often used but the meaning varies i Although some electronic equipment different areas. Comparable statistics can was available to the fishing industry prior not be obtained if a multitude of local name to 1940, its improvement and development are used. The" lift net" offers an exampl during World War II resulted in extensive of this confus ion. In it s previous publi use of such instruments as ship-to-shore cations, the Bureau has used the nam telephones, loran (position plotter), dir­ "drop dip net" for this type gear operate ection finders, depth indicators and re­ in a ll states except Maine and Massachu corders, fish finders, radar, and automatic setts. For these two States the term "lift steering devices. This equipment has been net" has been used. The State of Washing­ an aid to safer navigation and more produc­ ton legally defines this net as a n ring net,· tive fishing. It has also been responsible while Michigan and Wisconsin laws refer for the discovery of new fishing grounds and to it as a "dip net." Florida fishermen know has made operation of midwater trawls it as a .. hoop net," but in Texas it is called practical. a "drop net." In other states .. ring net," "dip net," and" drop net" are used to des­ Many improvements in fishing methods ignate entirely different types of fishing and equipment have been brought about by gear. the introduction and wide acceptance of synthetic fibers. When they were first mar­ Few states have official definitions for keted, these twines and ropes were high in the many fishing implements used. There price and not entirely satisfactory for use are no Federal laws defining commercial in the fishing industry. However, prices fishing gear since regulation of the fisheries gradually dropped to a level competitive in territorial waters of the United States with that of natural fibers. Most of their constitutionally is a State rather than a original imperfections were overcome. Ny­ Federal function. lon, in various form~ l. was the first of the fibers to be widely used in fishing nets. Various systems of classifying fishing In recent years several other synthetics gear have been proposed during the past have gained prominence. thirty years. This publication does not fol­ low anyone of these but is, in general, Fishery Statistics of the United States, the classification system used in statistical 1959 -- the most recent edition -- lists publications of the Bureau. The different nearly seventy different types of fishing fishing gear have been arranged so that gear as being used during that year.