reef netn.
/ˈriːf nɛt/, U.S. /ˈrif ˌnɛt/ Chiefly North American.
A net used in reef net fishing (see reef net fishing n. at Compounds 2).Originally used by members of American Indian tribes to catch salmon in the vicinity of the Puget Sound, off the west coast of North America.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > net > [noun] > net for salmon
stell-netc1303
ring net1505
weir-shot net1855
reef net1895
1895 Rep. Commissioner 1893 (U.S. Comm. Fish & Fisheries) 294 During 1892 over three-fourths of the catch was taken by the 85 white men using purse seines and pound nets, and less than one-fourth by 100 Indian fishermen employing reef nets and gill nets.
1917 Pacific Fisherman Yearbk. 60 (heading) The Siwash reef net.
1974 B. Hill & R. Hill Spirit in Stone iii. 35 A man whom we will call the ritualist and several assistants are fishing for salmon with a reef net.
1999 Columbian (Vancouver) (Nexis) 12 Sept. a6 Unlike the other tribes, though, Samish used reef nets.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
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1897 Rep. Joint Comm. Preserv. Fisheries Waters Contiguous to Canada & U.S. 144 The southern end of San Juan and Lopez Islands, where Indian reef net grounds occur.
1949 Sitka (Alaska) Sentinel 15 June Purse seine, drag seine and reef net fishermen will observe a 40-hour closed period each week.
1970 National Fisherman Feb. 21- b/1 In 1969 there were 63 pairs of reefnet vessels registered in Puget Sound.
1997 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 8 July b5 Beach seines and reef net fisheries are conducted close to shore and have their origins in aboriginal techniques.
2002 Amer. Indian Q. 26 288 The proprietary nature of knowledge surrounding reef-net fishing sites within traditional Coast Salish community life.
C2.
reef net fishing n. a method of fishing in which obstacles designed to resemble underwater reefs are suspended from moored boats, so that fish aiming for the clearer water between them are guided into a net.
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1897 Rep. Joint Comm. Preserv. Fisheries Waters Contiguous to Canada & U.S. 140 This line of traps practically parallels the northern margin of a large rectangular reef or patch of rocky bottom, on which the Indians have hitherto done the main part of their reef net fishing for sockeye.
1902 C. H. Townsend & H. M. Smith in D. Sage et al. Pacific Salmon 176 A peculiar method of taking salmon in salt water is practiced by the Indians of Washington and British Columbia, called reef-net fishing, in which a large square piece of netting is held between two canoes.
1917 Pacific Fisherman Yearbk. 60 Reef net fishing was confined to the flood tide.
1968 Ecology 49 1001/2 Experimental reef-net fishing in northern Puget Sound.
Derivatives
ˈreef netter n. a fisherman who uses this method of fishing.
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1939 Pacific Fisherman June 45/2 With the increase in gear, considerable friction arose between purse seiners and reef netters.
1995 Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Nexis) 31 Oct. a1 30 Jerry Anderson, a veteran reef netter on Lummi Island.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1895