vi PREFACE. 



To do this at all effectively it has bean necessary to 

 revisit the more important stations in England ; while 

 for later information about more distant parts of the 

 coast I have been to some extent dependent on the 

 several Annual Reports of the Scotch Fishery Board 

 and of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries which have 

 appeared since 1805. In addition to these resources, 

 however, I am indebted to the Hon. B. F. Primrose, 

 the experienced and obliging Secretary to the Board, 

 for many interesting communications about the recent 

 condition of the Scotch fisheries ; and my acknowledg- 

 ments are also due to the Irish Inspectors for their 

 courteous replies to my inquiries about the fisheries 

 under their charge. 



Among the various kinds of fishery noticed in the 

 following pages, beam-trawling, drift-fishing, seaning, 

 and deep-sea line-fishing have been especially discussed ; 

 and under the head of Fishing Stations a general idea 

 has been given of the nature and extent of the fisheries 

 carried on from the principal places along the wliole 

 coast of the British Islands. The unusual opportunities 

 which have fallen to my lot of acquiring direct informa- 

 tion on the general subject have enabled me in almost 

 every case to speak from personal knowledge of the 

 various matters treated of; and although in dealing 

 with the Hiullitude of details involved in a description 

 of tlie Sea Fisheries of tlie United Kingdom, I can 

 scarcely hope to have escaped some errors, I trust they 



