Hand Nets

Hand nets, shaped to a bag and attached to a wooden frame, with or without special handles, are made in various forms. They are used as dip or scoop nets and as manipulated traps.

The small dip net ('upenga lama or lalama), a small bag net attached to a single pliable rod, bent around through the marginal meshes into the form of a tennis racket with the ends tied together, was used in Manua with coconut leaf torches (lama) at night. They were largely used for fishing in the page 475lagoon. They are also used as dip nets with community methods such as the lauloa and stone weirs.

Edge-Partington (10, vol. 2, p. 44) gives a sketch of the type in which the overlapping ends of the frame rod serve as a handle.

The medium dip net ('upenga sae'e) seen on Tau serves the same purpose as the last but has a larger frame (a'au). (See figure 275.) It had been started from the bottom and increased by additional meshes of the mata Sasaumani type.

In using the net, two men worked in conjunction. The man with the net set it across a likely looking channel while the other drove the fish toward it with a stick. The crossbar acted as a handle ('au). It resembled the Aitutaki hopai (39, p. 290) net frame on a smaller scale.

The long-handled dip net. The principle of the crossbar and the long handle is applied in the Cook Islands (39, p. 288) to nets for catching flying fish at night with the aid of a torch. Though on Tutuila, the use of the net and the torch was denied, the method was used in other parts. Though a Samoan proverb shows that torching took place, the present day Samoans are curiously confused about it. A Samoan talking chief quoted the following proverb: "'O sipa le lamanga 'ae ngase fua le malolo." (The torching was for sipa but the malolo was taken.) He could not distinguish between the sipa and the malolo flying fish, nor say what form of net was used with the torching. Pratt (23, p. 266) gives the sipa as a small flying fish. Thus, though torching for flying fish was known, it could not have been indulged in to the same extent as in the nearby Tokelau group and the Polynesian islands to the east. The net was probably of the type figured by Demandt (9, p. 46, fig. 1).

The double-handled dip net ('upenga saosao'o) is a net larger than the sae'e net but the distal ends of the frame rods are not tied together. One being used in Tutuila had a frame of two poles each 9 feet long. The page 476poles were tied together at the thicker ends to form a loose joint. The woods used for the poles were auauli and talafalu. The net which was attached along the poles for 7 feet was a bag net 5 feet deep and 4 feet wide at the bottom. The net is set across a channel or convenient pool by holding down one pole along the bottom while the other is held up to open the net. The two poles are easily manipulated by one man at the joint. An assistant armed preferably with a pole of light ma'o wood drives the fish into the net. The net possesses the advantage over the sae'e net with a rigid frame in that the poles can be closed together after the fish enter. The driving process is termed so' a.

In Tau, the net is called 'upenga tu uli. The term uli (to steer) is used in the net name from the fancied steering of the poles of the net.

The scoop nets ('enu). The name 'enu is shared by the midrib scoop used for palolo and the traps described on page 454. A more rigid framework is made by using rods for the bag of the net as well as the rim opening.

An 'enu seen at Aoloau, Tutuila, had the opening frame made of a straight piece to which another piece bent into a U was attached. (See figure 276, a and b.) The net was used as a scoop for gathering the fish enclosed by a long net or lauloa.

A similar 'enu at Salailua was made in exactly the same way. The transverse rod of the opening was 40 inches long and always placed at the bottom. The inverted U rod tied to it formed an opening 36 inches high in the middle line. The two crossed curved rods were in this instance tied to the outer side of the opening frame and their crossing at the back called the muli was about page 4774 feet from the opening. The net with a 0.25 inch mesh was attached to the frame in the same way as the preceding 'enu but at the back, another cord was run through the marginal meshes and drawn taut to pucker the net together to close the muli end. A cord was tied to the lower crossbar of the opening. This larger 'enu was used in connection with the tupa leaf weirs described. The opening of the net was placed against the opening at the apex of the weir. It was wide enough to overlap the weir opening and it rested behind the two stones mentioned.

The fisherman stands outside the weir holding the cord attached to the crossbar. When the i'a sina fish have entered the net, the cord is pulled so as to lift the opening of the net above the surface of the water.

Another form of frame was seen in the same district as the above. (See figure 276, c, d.) The net is used purely as a scoop net in connection with long nets or it may be set in a small leaf weir in exactly the same manner as the preceding net. Not only i'a sina are caught with it but also the atule when it moves in shoals.

The arched hand net (se'i) consists of a rectangular piece of netting spread out by four sticks attached to each corner and tied together at the other ends in such a way as to arch them and thus keep the corners of the net taut. (See Plate XLV, B.) A line is run through the marginal meshes of one side and tied to the lower end of two sticks with a clove hitch. It is then run through the marginal meshes of each side in turn and tied also in turn to the lower ends of the other two sticks with clove hitches.

The lashed part of the arched sticks is used as a handle. The net is lowered down into the water and as a fish passes over it, it is drawn up out of the water. The fish caught with it are matu and mumu. It seems to be limited in distribution to the area in Upolu stretching between Apia and Fasitoouta. It is used in conjunction with a seine net termed tolo matu. The seine net is drawn round to enclose matu fish. Canoes paddle into the enclosed space and the sides of the canoe are tapped with the paddle. The fish swim in to the neighborhood of the canoe on hearing the sound and are then dipped up with the se'i net. The term se'i means to jerk and the name is applied to the net from the quick jerk given to it in drawing up the fish. The se'i is made at the same time as the tolo motu seine net and goes with it as part of the equipment. They are not supposed to be parted. Separating the two is prohibited (sa). The se'i secured was sold by the family whilst the family head was absent in Tutuila. The sa restriction was overcome by the vendors themselves.

The arched net with line ('upenga sumu) though not a hand net is dealt with here because it is exactly the same in make as the se'i. The one described in figure 277 was made for me by an old man at Tau who maintained page 478that they were so little used nowadays that he was the only man in Tau who knew how to make them.

The fish caught was the sumu (genus Balister) which frequents the outer side of the reef. Fishing took place from canoes which came in as close to the reef as possible. The baited net was lowered on a line to near the bottom. When the sumu bites at the bait the jerk is distinctly felt on the line. The net is drawn up quickly, the fish simply resting on the net without any attempt to get away. The net sags as it is drawn up and thus acts like a shallow bag net. A net of this type figured by Kramer (18, vol. 2, p. 170) and Demandt (9, p. 54) is shown attached to a float.

The mullet hand net (alangamea) is the most interesting of the hand nets as it marks a novel departure in method. (See Plate XLVI, B.) It is used in catching mullet ('anae) as they jump over a seine net by which they are enclosed. The movement of intercepting anything in the air with a net is known as seu. The netting of pigeons is seu lupe and the alangamea use for matching mullet in the air is seu'anae. The framework is shown in figure 278.

When the net is not being used to intercept fish, the right pole is taken page 479out of the fork on the crossbar and placed beside the left hole which the joint admits of. The net is then wound around both poles. The net is carried folded until the fisherman takes up his position outside the seine net to seu 'anae. In action, the net is unwound and the right pole slipped by gradual firm pressure into the fork of the crossbar. The method of use is described later on page 484.

The shrimp net ('u'uti) is much used in the Vaisingango stream near Apia for catching fresh-water crayfish (ula vai). (See Plate XLVI, A.) The net has a small mesh (0.4 inches) and consists of a straight piece of net attached to side handles which are straight sticks 0.5 inches in diameter and 44 inches long. The bottom line of the net is tied to the lower ends of the sticks and when stretched apart with the net and sinkers on has a spread of about 5.5 feet. page 480The top line is tied to the sticks about 7 inches from their top ends and has a lesser stretch of 4 feet, 4 inches, thus giving the net a slight bag. On the bottom line of the net are the sinkers of pule (Cypraea mauritiana) about 2 inches wide at the opening. The closed ends of the shells are cracked off so that the long slit opening appears on the other side. (See figure 279.) The bottom line is run up through the marginal meshes at the sides and at the top. The side lines are attached to the handles at intervals with separate pieces of cord. No floats are needed.

The fisherman locates the crayfish and opens out the net holding the top end of the stick handles in each hand. The bottom line is then lowered behind the crayfish and, by sweeping the two sticks round to the front, the crayfish are enclosed. They can then be scooped back into the slack of the net and removed from the water. The inland villages of Mangiangi and Tanung-amanono near the Vaisingango stream are places where the method is still used.