Fishing nets
Original title: Redes de Pesca
Describes the main fishing nets used in Madeira — the circular net, the rede de atravessar and the seine (rede de arrasto) — along with trammel nets and cast nets, explaining how each is built and worked.
Types of fishing net
The nets most often used by the fishing industry in Madeira are the following: the circular net, the set net (rede de atravessar) and the drag net.
The first, often seen hanging from the mast of fishing boats, has curved poles tied to its mouth to keep it open while it is in use. It is the most frequently used and serves not only for catching chicharro but also other small species. Ropes connect the net to a pole, which the fisherman holds when he works the gear, and the mesh of the net is finer or coarser according to the species to be caught.
The set net, sometimes very large, has pieces of cork along one side and lead weights along the other, which make it sink and hang vertically. It is sometimes used to encircle the fish, and it is hauled by means of ropes fastened to the net, which also serve to lift it when the catch is taken in.
The drag net, like the set net, has pieces of cork along one side and lead weights along the other, but it differs in having a large bag in the middle, designed to catch the fish that enter it. The net is usually hauled from the shore by very long ropes that run through a kind of pulley.
Besides the nets described above, trammel nets, cast nets, etc., are sometimes used in fishing. Trammel nets have three panels, the inner one of finer mesh than the outer ones, while cast nets are small nets with lead weights around the edge. Using cast nets calls for a certain skill, since they are thrown from some distance from the spot where the fish are.
Some fishermen call set nets drag nets, although, as we have seen, set nets differ from drag nets in lacking the bag designed to catch the fish.