June 5th, 2010
Yesterday, as it has been all spring, the bay was quite and empty. But this morning, seemingly out of nowhere, dories are positioned all across the bay with nets spread between them. Gulls are everywhere and they clearly know what's about to happen!
Seine (/seɪn/ sayn) fishing (or seine-haul fishing) is a method of fishing that employs a seine or dragnet. A seine is a fishing net that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be deployed from the shore as a beach seine, or from a boat. Boats deploying seine nets are known as seiners. - Wikipedia
Atlantic herring are known to form giant schools as they migrate along the New England coast. Scientists estimate that these schools can comprise hundreds of thousands of individual fish. So it’s no wonder that Native Americans who lived along Maine’s coast and the settlers that followed them quickly learned how to capture the silvery fish for use as food and fertilizer. - Gulf of Maine Research Institute