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BARBARA E. WARD
backing off. Though widespread in the inshore waters of Hong Kong, gill-netting was not much practised from Kau Sai before the 'sixties.
Purse-seining is so called because the net (or seine) laid first as a circle around a shoal is then drawn in to a purse shape, in order to contain the fish, by means of a running line (called the purse-line) threaded through the bottom row of meshes. In 1950 purse-seining from Kau Sai was exclusively done by pairs of junks working together, almost invariably at night. Bright kerosene pressure lamps were used to attract the fish, usually being placed on a sampan for the purpose. The pair of purse-seiners then proceeded to encircle the sampan with the net, the junks moving first away from each other and then converging again on the other side of the sampan, the net, one end held fast in the bows of one junk, being paid out from the bows of the other as they went. The movement was slow and very quiet, propulsion being by the long sweeps (yu loh) alone. The net thus laid in a kind of circular wall around the sampan with its bright light, the workers on the two junks began to haul in on the purse-line with the result that the bottom was gradually gathered in while at the same time the net itself was being hauled on board. The sampan glided out over the top of the narrowing circle, the fish, flapping and leaping silver in the light, were scooped out with a hand-net, and the whole operation could then be repeated. Excluding the longer or shorter period during which the bright lights were simply set to attract a shoal, each operation took about thirty-five minutes. The drawing in of the purse-line was often accompanied by loud shouting, beating the surface of the water and the gunwales of the boat, and other noise to scare any fish that may be escaping back towards the net. The illegal and extremely dangerous use of dynamite to stun the fish was almost universal.
In the early days of mechanisation the fishermen argued that it would be impossible to carry out the actual operation of purse-seining under engine power. They claimed that the noise would frighten the fish away, and that the advantages of mechanisation were to be found only in the greater speed and safety in reaching fishing grounds and taking catches to market. By the early