THE HEKKING FISHEKIES 



153 



The Movements of the Great Drifter Fleet 



Drifters (unlike trawlers) rarely remain at sea for more than 

 two or three nights at a time, and a very large number of boats 

 land their herrings daily. If they are ' lightly fished ', however, 

 the first night's catch is salted, and the vessel puts in one or 

 two more nights' fishing. 



The Yarmouth and Lowestoft fleets fit out about the 1st of 

 May for the east coast of Scotland, the Shetlands, and Castle Bay 

 in the Island of Barra. In these waters they fish through May 

 and June. By the second or third week in June the whole fleet 

 is concentrated between the east coast of Scotland and the 

 Shetlands. One of the chief bases of the fleet is Lerwick, and 

 a big fleet fishes out of that port till the end of June. Then the 

 centre of activity starts to shift southward to Orkney, Wick, 

 Fraserburgh, Peterhead, and Aberdeen, where fishing is at its 

 zenith in July and August. Some of the crews also use smaller 

 ports like Buckie, Banff, Anstruther, and Eyemouth. Mean- 

 while, as the season advances, some of the vessels have felt 

 their way south to the Tyne, Hartlepool, Berwick, and Sea- 

 houses, where the fishing is in full swing by the middle of July. 



The southward movement continues, and in September 

 a certain number of drifters are working from Scarborough and 

 Grimsby. But by this time the bulk of the boats have crowded 

 into Yarmouth and Lowestoft, both of which are, like North 

 Shields and Hartlepool, sadly in need of increased and im- 

 proved accommodation for the vast array of vessels. By the end 

 of December the great herring fishery is over on the east coast. 

 It was formerly the custom for many drifters to follow the 

 mackerel fishing off the coast of Cornwall and the south coast 

 of Ireland in January, February, March, and April. But this 

 fishing ceased to be profitable when the French — our chief 

 customers for mackerel — placed an import duty on the fish, 

 and most of the English east-coast boats are now laid up during 

 these months. 



The 1913 herring ' harvest ' was therefore (roughly) : 



January, February 



May, June 



June, July, August 



June, July, August 



June, July, August 



August, September, October 



October, November 



December 



July, August 



June, July 



The figures show that the landings in any particular month 



On north-west coast of Scotland (Lewis) 



Shetland 



Orkney 



East coast of Scotland . 



North-east coast of England 



Yorkshire coast 



Norfolk coast 



English Channel 



Irish Sea 



Isle of Man . 



