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time in hand-lining. Specialist trappers and hand-liners also existed. In the spring one variety of fish was caught by spearing with a four-pronged spear. This, like much of the hand-lining, was done mainly for sport. In the summer both fish and shell-fish were occasionally taken by diving.20 Twenty years later the same types of fishing were still to be observed, but one concomitant of mechanisation appeared to be a breakdown in strict specialisation: some purse-seiners were now practising gill-netting in the appropriate season and at least one had also tried long-lining.
21
Hand-Lining need not be described. In 1970 all lines were of nylon, unheard of in 1950 but cheaply and easily available from about 1959 onwards. The trapping most commonly practised was done by means of beehive-shaped traps of various sizes into which the fish, attracted by a bait usually made of crushed fish, entered through a non-return valve at the side. Traps were laid in suitable waters and normally collected the next day. All traps were made out of rattan by the fishermen themselves. My returns in 1953 list 8 boats in this general category.
Long-Lining is a method of catching fish on baited hooks hanging from a series of short lines (snoods) attached to a long line each end of which is fastened to a marker. Kau Sai's long-lines are normally 100 fathoms in length, and carry 100 baited hooks.22 Floats at regular intervals hold the long line steady in the water. Shooting takes about twenty minutes. The line is then immediately hauled in, starting at the end first shot. Long-liner catches are often good quality fish of varieties in high demand for the table. They are usually sold fresh, often kept alive in special watertight holds. In 1953 the number of small long-liners claiming to be based at Kau Sai was 15. There was also 1 medium-sized long-liner.
Floats and markers are also used in gill-netting, but here it is a wall of net some 6 or 7 fathoms deep that is shot over the side of the junk. The mesh of the nets and the depth at which they are set vary with the seasons and types of fish. Nets are laid in such a way that fish swimming towards them thrust their heads through the meshes, their own gills then acting as valves to prevent them
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