In the centre of this
an electric lamp was let down into the water, some feet below the
surface. The fish crowded towards it, and a sudden shock of
electricity transmitted through the meshes of the net, as well as from
the wires of the lamp circuit, stunned for a few minutes all life
within the enclosure. The fish then floated on the surface, the net
was drawn together, and they were collected and sorted; some which, as
I afterwards learned, were required for breeding, being carefully and
separately preserved in a smaller tank, those fit for food cast into
the larger one, those too small for the one purpose and not needed for
the other being thrown back into the water. I noted, however, that
many fish apparently valuable were among those thus rejected. I spoke
to one of the fishermen, who, regarding me with great surprise and
curiosity, at last answered briefly that a stringent law forbids the
catching of spawning fish except for breeding purposes. Those,
therefore, for which the season was close-time were invariably spared.
In sea-fishing a much larger net, sometimes enclosing more than 10,000
square yards, is employed.
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