Commercial Fishing the Fish Traps of Chatham Massachusetts

Lots of summer visitors to Chatham's Harding's Beach have seen these strange looking formations of wooden poles in the water. What they are seeing are the fish traps that are used by commercial fishermen in the warm waters Of Nantucket Sound. The fish traps are also known as pound nets or fish weirs. In actuality, these are used to catch various species of fish by commercial fishermen who live in Chatham Massachusetts. I was a part-time commercial rod and reel fisherman who often fished the same nearby waters and often saw these guys at work.

The fish trap is an odd looking contraption of small poles (trees) 25 feet long stripped of their branches. These poles are painted red with anti-fouling paint that is used to keep barnacles off of the bottom of boats. These poles are then sunk into the bottom of the ocean and spaced somewhere around 30 to 50 feet apart. Then a fish netting is tied to the poles. This method of fishing is over 300 years old. Supposedly, the Pilgrims learned this type of catching fish from the Indians.

The fish that they catch in the fish traps ranges from Squid in the springtime to Boston Mackerel, Porgies(Scup), Butter fish, Blue Fish, Striped Bass, Black Sea Bass and various Flounders and occasionally a Giant Blue Fin Tuna. Due to catch limits imposed in recent years it may be tougher for these fishermen to survive financially. Perhaps the fishing will get better with conservation.

To describe a fish trap try to picture a tennis racket. The fish trap is actually about two hundred yards in all more or less. The long handle is a series of wooden poles that are driven into the sand. There is a net that runs along the handle and leads to the circular part or heart of the fish trap. There are guy lines attached to help anchor the poles and nets. The fish tend to run in schools. As they swim along, they bump into the net. Then they have to go along the net, and are led into a circular net held up by poles called the heart of the trap.