BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 465 



Vol. Ill, fto. 30. Washing-ton, D. C. Dec. 7, 1883. 



117 NOTES ON THE ENGEISH HERRING FISHERY OF 1882.* 



By THOMAS SOUTHWELL,, F. Z. S. 



The herring voyage of the past year has been characterized by ex- 

 tremes, both of catch and prices; the weather has also been extremely 

 unpropitious, a succession of severe storms having proved most disas- 

 trous both to life and property ; but during intervals of fine weather 

 very large catches have been made, by the Yarmouth boats especially. 

 The spring voyage from Yarmouth is never of any importance ; last 

 year it yielded 197 lasts of 13,200 fish, as compared with 236 lasts in 

 1881; but the Lowestoft boats fill up the time from March till the end 

 of May, when the mackerel season commences, in fishing for herring. 

 The spring of 1882 produced 1,793 lasts, against 2,797 lasts in 1881; the 

 prices, too, as a rule, were very low, in some instances as low as 4d. per 

 132, and repeatedly not more than Id. or 9cL, whilst 2s. 6d. per 132 ap- 

 pears to have been considered a good price. In the spring of 1881 

 prices ruled much higher, 12s. to 18s., and in one instance 19s. per long 

 hundred having been given. One of the reasons assigned for the low 

 prices is that very few French boats were fishing for cod, and there- 

 fore the demand for herring for bait was much less than usual ; a reason 

 very significant of the value of these spring fish. Upon the whole the 

 Lowestoft spring voyage may be considered to have been very unsatis- 

 factory, many of the boats having scarcely paid their expenses. 



It will be seen from the table below that herring are present in the 

 North Sea during the whole year ; and although at all times more or 

 less gregarious, it is only during the spawning season that they congre- 

 gate in the vast shoals which frequent the shallow waters around our 

 coast; the so-called " migration" being simply the gathering together, 

 for the purpose of reproduction, of the scattered parties which, although 

 at greater distances from the shore, and in greater depths of water, are 

 still permanent inhabitants of the sea. 



During the mouths of June and July a few fish are taken, and a 

 larger quantity in August ; but it is not till September that the autumn 

 fishery commences in earnest. From that time to the end of the year 

 the boats are busily occupied, and the 'fish wharves exhibit an animated 

 scene. There were about 50 more Yarmouth boats engaged this year 

 than in 1881, and about 200 Scotch boats also used the port. Very large 

 deliveries were made early in the season, and at one time the Yarmouth 

 delivery reached about 5,000 lasts in excess of the same period of the 

 previous year ; but a succession of heavy gales, towards the end of the 



* A paper read before the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, March 27, 1883. 

 Bull. U. S. F. C, 83 30 



