Trawling is another method of fishing, chiefly used in taking flat fish on the sand-banks and clear ground. It has been most profitably worked on the East Coast of Ireland, although it is not attempted on the West Coast, first, because it is adapted only for trawl fish, such as Turbot, Plaice, sole, John Dory, &c., &c., and secondly, the large fishing banks off the West Coast have many patches of foul ground composed of large stones or rocks, also of coral beds that would tear the net of any trawl to pieces. Some twenty years ago a company was formed in Dublin to fish the Irish sea with Torbay boats, which were fine cutter rigged vessels of from forty to fifty-five tons burthen each. They were most per- fectly found in every respect as trawlers, and built as strong as wood and iron could make them; they were splendid sea boats and could beat up to their market in all wea-thers that a vessel could keep the sea In. They were each of them found with a patent winch by which the trawl was hauled on board, and with a crew of three men and a boy they were able to do all the work that it required eight or ten men to do in one of the fishing boats of the coast. They could drag their trawl across the deepest part of the Irish sea, in from fifty to seventy fathom water, and hold on to it in all weathers; very few of them ever lost a trawl net from having cut it adrift in a gale of wind, as is often the case with fish- ing boats that cannot get it on board and have to run from the gale. These boats brought a large description of Sole to the Dublin market, until then unknown there, also the finest turbot out of the deep water that the coast fishermen had not the gear to fish in; they always brought cargoes of fish when they came to market, still they lost money by the speculation, and finally sold off all their boats. However, one of their
skippers being aware of their mismanagement entered into the speculation upon his own account, and purchased one of their boats, he was a respectable hard-working man, and in the course of a short time he brought the remainder of the fleet, and has since made a well merited independence by them. Thus this speculation that failed when ill managed, under amateurs fishermen, made this man's fortune.
The fishermen generally are a superstitious and self-willed class of men, they know it is by their knowledge of their business that is either a gaining or losing concern, and that this knowledge is solely gained by long experience. Their good will must be enlisted in the undertaking, and it would require the manager of each fishing station of a company to have an individual knowledge of the characters of the men in his employment, and if he had a troublesome hand to deal with he must let that person know, that although he did not lean heavier on him than on his comrades, still that he excited more particular attention than the rest of the crew. You may lead fishermen to do anything, but if it goes to driving them, they will go there is no doubt, but they will take right good care that is at your expense. I would strongly suggest to a com pany to send their own vessels well manned, and then work with the materials that they find on the coast, that is men and boats. When these men find that there is money to be made, their energies will be aroused, and they will go through greater hardships at less wages than any other class of men, as was well known to those who had to run a smuggler's cargo. At present the fish caught at Kinsale sell for thirty thousand a year, fished for by the local fishermen, under the direction of the speculators who employ them.
To return to the Trawling, this part of the deep sea fishery must be carried on by boats of a particular build, having a large draught of water to keep them up to windward when dragging their Trawl. Vessels of thirty-five tons drawing
43
from seven to nine feet water aft, and from four to five or six feet forward. Trawling is now carried on by boats of much larger burthen, as they can kill a great many more fish from the much wider and heavier trawl that they use, which is dragged much faster over the fishing ground without the chance of floating it up. Some of the trawlers at present employed are near seventy tons burthen, and it requires vessels of that tonnage to fish deep water, that is from forty to seventy fathoms deep, as a small craft has to give such a scope of trawl rope as nearly brings her to an anchor between the length of trawl rope and the length of the trawl bridle, it may be reckoned that on ordinary occasions there is generally about three times as much rope veered out, as the depth of water in which they are fishing. When in shallow water and a heavy breeze the length of rope will be much more. Trawling is the mode or method best adapted for taking flat fish that lay on the banks and bottom of the sea, such as Turbot, Sole, Brit, Plaice, Flounders, John Dory, Mollagoons, and Skate or Ray. These fish are sometimes taken by bait, but never in such quantities as by the trawl net. There are also some round fish taken in the trawl net such as Haddock, Red Gurnet, Whiting, and Conger Eels. They also frequently take Lobsters, Cray fish, Oysters, and Crabs a trawl net sometimes when hauled on board presents as heterogeneous a mass of fish as can well be imagined. The trawl fishing is worked in the following manner. The size of the net is of course adapted to the size of the boat, to a boat of twenty five tons, the trawl is of the following dimensions. The trawl beam is from twenty-five to thirty feet long, and the bag of the net if it is a purse without pockets about forty feet long, but if it is a trawl bag with pockets it would not require to be longer than thirty feet. The trawl bean is a strong beam of oak made of two poles about eighteen inches in circumference; the Torbay boats use these beams perfectly straight.
44
Irish trawlers have them made with a considerable arch formed in the centre of them, which when a ball of round fish such as Haddock are swimming low has often done conside rable execution amongst them. It is a mere matter of taste whether the beam should be an arched or straight, as they are generally strong either way. I would give the arched beam the preference for the reason above stated. It may be sup- posed that the arched beam is easier when the trawl is being shot, but I do not think that can be the case, as the trawl irons will of course have sunk lower before the whole beam is in the water in an arched beam, than they in a straight beam, when the beams are irons all take the water at once. To each end of the trawl beam is attached a large oval iron called a trawl head, it is about five feet long, and three feet high in the sized beam I now describe, and is made in the following form.
1. The eye bolt to which the trawl bridle is, attached, and by which it is drawn along the fishing ground.
2. An iron socket into which the end of the trawl beam fits, and is made permanently fast to with wedges; the socket is made of iron of the same scantling as the trawl head.
3. The ring to which is made fast the ground rope of the trawl bag or net. The English trawl heads have the mortice iron for the trawl beam at the top of the trawl head, as represented above, at A. but the Irish Fishermen prefer the mortice iron under the iron of the trawl head. The trawl head is made of flat iron five inch wide by half inch thick. This difference is the position of the mortice iron seems as if the English Fishermen thought that their trawl beam travelled too low in the water and placed it on the top of the trawl head to elevate it, while it would appear that the Irish Fishermen thought that their arched beam was too high off the bottom, and tried to depress it by fixing the beam under the top iron of the trawl head. I here annex a sketch of the different plans a trawl beams and trawl nets.
45
1. The trawl beam (straight)
2. The trawl irons or heads.
3. The trawl bridle or span.
4. The trawl warp by which the trawl is drawn from the vessel.
5 . The foot rope 6. The purse.
7. The Cod line, by pulling out which the purse is opened, to let the fish out.
1 . The arched beam made in three parts with strong iron clamped splices
6. The long purse used in the Irish nets, as they have no pockets they must give the purse this additional length, that the net by closing on the fish may prevent their running out. With the exception of the beam and difference of make in the nets, one having two pockets and the other a long purse, all the gear is the same. There can be no doubt that the nets with pockets are by far the best, as there is nothing to prevent the fish swimming out of the Irish nets; once the boat slackens her way, and nothing can prove this face more strongly than the quantity of fish that are taken in the pockets of the nets that have them, which shows they were in the act of leaving the net when caught, and they are gene-rally the strongest and finest fish. The trawl bridle is a strong rope made fast to the eye bolts in the front of each of the trawl heads and by which they are drawn along the bottom
8. Pockets to prevent, the fish escaping at the mouth of the Nets. of the sea at the same time evenly. There is another heavier rope made fast to the bight of the trawl bridle, and by which the trawl is drawn from the vessel as shewn in the annexed sketch. The trawl rope is generally a three inch rope of from sixty to two hundred fathoms in length. When trawling, it is made fast round the mast with a spring to it, by which the vessel is steered. With plenty of wind if they wish to go close hauled on a wind, the trawl rope is drawn from a little before the beam, but if the wind slackens, and they wish to go at all free, the trawl rope is hauled aft by the spring or guy rope. When close hauled, a vessel dragging her trawl will not fetch within six points of where she looks-the length of trawl rope used according to circumstances, in light weather and smooth water the shortest possible scope that the depth of water will admit of is all that is given, as the trawl is steady in blowing weather and smooth water a greater length is given, so as not to float the trawl by giving it too much way along the bottom, but in blowing weather with a heavy sea it requires a great deal of scope, or the working of the vessel will jerk it off the ground. A trawl requires at all times a steady haul along the fishing ground, or otherwise it may get capsized and drag the beam along the ground, which would prevent the possibility of catching a single fish, as the mouth of the trawl, bag would be closed by it. The ground rope of the trawl net should be a heavy old rope, a piece of an old hawser will do well for the following reasons, in the first place its weight will always keep it steady on the bottom, and in the second place, if you should come foul of a large stone or piece of wreck, as soon as you have taken a haul on your trawl rope or bridle to get the trawl on board, the old rope will break and you save your net with perhaps a few tears that may be repaired in a short time, but if you have a new ground rope under the same circumstances it will not give way, and you may carry away your beam net, &c.,&c., in trying to force it up, or you have the more prudent alternative of getting as much rope as you can on board and then cutting away your net. Some years ago when I fitted out a trawler, I thought everything should be strong and new, but an old fisherman mentioned the above circumstance to me about the foot rope, on which I acted at once and replaced the new with an old one. The crew in my em- ployment must have been aware of this fact, although they did not say a word about it until I was getting the rope changed. Another very useful saving of wear and tear to a trawl net is to get layers of old net netted to the bottom of the trawl net, from behind the ground rope, it prevents its wearing out so soon as it otherwise would, as that part of the net suffers a good deal from dragging along the bottom of the sea, sometimes on a cutting shelly gravel, and sometimes over coral beds. The meshes of a trawl net are different sizes, those next the trawl beam in the upper part of the net are of a larger mesh and of lighter twine than what is in the purse of the net, to make it more buoyant as it drifts over the fish, it requires some attention in shooting the trawl to prevent its capsizing and reaching the bottom of the sea with the wrong side of the beam uppermost -- this often happens to inexpe- rienced hands. Suppose the vessel about to shoot the trawl is on the starboard tack the purse of the net is first thrown overboard and the body of the net after it; when it is stretched out the beam is let down from the side the bridle next the stern having been previously taken round to the lar- board side of the vessel, they then lower the peak of the main-sail and run down before the wind to bring the bridles even, and hold on the course until sufficient trawl rope is veered out for fishing - the trawl rope is then passed forward and made fast to the mast. Most vessels drag their trawls close hauled. The English vessels generally drag their trawls for six hours, and they don't care whether with or against the tide -- the
48 IRISH FISHERIES Irish boats seldom keep their trawls in the water more than two hours at a time, and their reason is that if they catch no fish they don't lose their time on that ground again, and if they have a good take of fish they can go back to the same ground.
The Irish Fishermen always trawl with the tide as it as sists the whole concern, boat, ropes, and trawl, and carries then over the fishing ground much faster than they could go in slack water. They never trawl against the tide as it buoys up the net and lets the fish out from their not having any pockets; the trawl is taken in as follows:-- The head sail is taken off the vessel and she is luff'd up head to wind; the trawl rope is then hauled in over the bows until they come to the bridle, when one rope of it is passed to the quarter, both ropes are then hauled in even until the trawl beam is at the surface of the water - they generally have a selvagee ready which they pass round the trawl; beam and hoist it up to the gunwale with the jib tackle purchase, and make it fast there, if there is a heavy take of fish they then get the selvagee round the lower part of the net and hoist it into the vessel.
In some boats this work is done with the hands. The attention of the men is not required during the time the vessel is trawling, as she must be kept under easy sail and steer herself. In the English boats the hands are generally employed at this time in making nets for sale.
