scare line

plural scare lines · alternative scare-line

1. A long rope, cable, or other line that is used to frighten fish into an area where they are more easily caught using other gear.

   Another boat, with an outboard motor, drove back and forwards just behind the scare line to add to the disturbance and to pass instructions between boats.

   2008, Ian G. Cowx, Management and Ecology of Lake and Reservoir Fisheries, →ISBN, page 189

   3 more examples

   A scare line (burinawa), several hundred fathoms long, would be cast in a straight line across the current, often several kilometres from land on a flat and sandy bottom. It would be kept close to the bottom by sinkers.

   1995, Arne Kalland, Fishing Villages in Tokugawa, Japan, →ISBN, page 106

   A long scare line made of short pieces of chain is stretched from bow to bow of the dug-outs and the entire device is paddled or poled slowly along the backwaters. The mullets frightened by the scare line, leap wildly into the air and get caught either in the net or in the tangle of twigs.

   2003, NIIR Board of Consultants & Engineers, Handbook on Fisheries and Aquaculture Technology, →ISBN, page 127

   For the scare line, coconut fronds are wound round a rope which is set around a large area to be fished. The scare lines are then pulled towards the shore. As the lines come closer, the fish are concentrated and are finally caught with some other gear.

   2008, Otto Gabriel, Klaus Lange, Erdmann Dahm, Fish Catching Methods of the World, →ISBN, page 306

2. A phrase or message used as a headline or quote that distorts the facts in order to alarm the reader or listener.

   I wouldn't worry about it. Standard Cartel scare line. It keeps unwanted personnel out of the no-go zones

   2008, Richard Morgan, Broken Angels, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Recently I heard a typical radio ad trying to frighten people into purchasing long-term care insurance. The big scare line was that “three out of five Americans will need institutional care, which can cost $60,000 per year."

   2004, Ralph Warner, Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well

   By 2002, it had one scare line on almost every issue. Like: “It's Common, It Can Kill. Why Aren't Doctors Telling Us about This Women-Only Disease?"

   2007, Myrna Blyth, Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness, →ISBN