INTRODUCTION. 19
towards the shore, is enclosed. As the fish follow the
rising tide, they are carried between the nets, and
arrive in the hollow of the V ; but, in their return on
the falling tide, they are inevitably carried into the
purse at the apex. The nets are visited when the tide
is falling, and the fish are removed before they are
damaged by exposure out of the water.
There are, inside the sea-walls of the island of
Foulness, some shallow pits filled with sea-water, which
formerly were in use for keeping the catch alive until
there should be a convenient occasion for sending it
to market. The more valuable fish (Turbot, for
instance) had a string with a cork at the other end
fastened round their tails, so that the fisherman who
caught them out of these stewes, when the time came
for dispatching them to market, knew exactly where to
dip his large landing net, and could draw them up
without risk of injury.
Kettle-netting would, no doubt, be successful on all
our coasts, were it not for the large quantities of
Zostera marina floating about, blocking the nets and,
by its weight, sometimes overturning them. A further
difficulty is that large portions of the shore are too
soft and muddy for the men who are engaged
in watching and attending to the nets to move
about on while emptying, clearing, and setting
them up.