OYSTER CULTURE IN ENGLAND. 349 



itself would be much larger than any now in use worked 

 by manual labour, and by that means larger quantities of 

 fish would be taken from deeper water than was now 

 fished, and from which the best fish were obtained. He 

 thought the great object would be to ensure certainty of a 

 large supply of fish. The class of fishing vessels he pro- 

 posed would be able to keep at sea in all weathers, and the 

 fish would be kept alive till they were landed. He had 

 fished with a trawl in 100 fathoms of water. He con- 

 sidered the fishing vessels at present used were too small, 

 as well as the trawls which they used. He was well ac- 

 quainted with the fisheries of the North Sea and the Baltic, 

 as well as on the coasts of India and China, and he con- 

 sidered the Chinese left us in the shade entirely in their 

 fisheries, both in the rivers and in the sea. The present 

 small fishing vessels had not the power to drag such a 

 trawl as would ensure much larger catches of fish from 

 deeper waters. The nets he proposed would be stronger 

 as well as larger than those ordinarily employed. 



Mr. Atkin expressed his opinion that, by means of this 

 enlarged scale of operations, great additions might be made 

 to the supply of oysters from beds at present inaccessible. The 

 English and French oyster fishermen dredged only to a 

 depth of about 30 fathoms, but no doubt much larger 

 supplies might be obtained from beds ivhich would be found in 

 deeper water. He proposed that dredging should be carried 

 on upon a larger scale, and employing larger dredges to be 

 worked by steam power, which could also be applied to 

 the working of a side screw as auxiliary propulsion of the 

 vessel. He believed that large oyster beds existed on the 

 Dogger Bank. As oysters were now selling in London at 

 zd. each, it would be worth while to increase the supply and 

 reduce the price. He proposed to adopt the plan which 



