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Noun edit

scare line (plural scare lines)

  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.
    • 1995, Arne Kalland, Fishing Villages in Tokugawa, Japan, →ISBN, page 106:
      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.
    • 2003, NIIR Board of Consultants & Engineers, Handbook on Fisheries and Aquaculture Technology, →ISBN, page 127:
      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.
    • 2008, Otto Gabriel, Klaus Lange, Erdmann Dahm, Fish Catching Methods of the World, →ISBN, page 306:
      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, Ian G. Cowx, Management and Ecology of Lake and Reservoir Fisheries, →ISBN, page 189:
      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.
  2. A phrase or message used as a headline or quote that distorts the facts in order to alarm the reader or listener.
    • 2004, Ralph Warner, Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well:
      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."
    • 2007, Myrna Blyth, Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness, →ISBN:
      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?"
    • 2008, Richard Morgan, Broken Angels, →ISBN:
      I wouldn't worry about it. Standard Cartel scare line. It keeps unwanted personnel out of the no-go zones

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