Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/78

 72 THE CORNWALL COAST Sardine Company established in the town. It has often been debated whether pilchards and sardines are one and the same ; Mr. Aflalo says they are identical. It is certain that many so- called sardines are pilchards — and some are sprats. Differences in size may be accounted for by the fact that Cornish nets have often a rather large mesh, and the smaller fish are not taken. Many such nets are made at Mevagissey. The seine, or sean-net, was that commonly used here when the pilchard schools came nearer, but is now almost abandoned for the drift-net ; we shall find seines still common further west. The seine may be described as a wall of netting, buoyed at the surface and weighted below ; this is dipped in the thick of the shoal, its ends drawn together, and the fish taken out with a tuck-net. The leaded bottom of the net must touch the ground or the fish will escape ; thus seine-fishing is only practicable in shallow waters. With it is associated the occupation of the " huers," who are stationed on the look-out above the shore, and who signal the arrival of the schools, easily seen in the daylight. But this method is now aban- doned at Mevagissey, where the fishermen go farther from port, sailing to meet the schools in open sea instead of waiting close to shore for them. In many details their drift-fishing differs from the seine. The nets are long and deep, with a fairly large mesh : the object being for the fish to become entangled as in a trap, into which they swim blindly. A dark night is the most favour- able ; the drift-fishers start from port about sunset, and are often back with their catch long before dawn. The fish, indeed, are frequently caught, brought ashore, and sold before daybreak ; some