TRAWLING. 83 



Winter is the great trawling time, because then there 

 is pretty sure to he plenty of wind, and if too much, 

 sail can always he reduced ; hut, unfortunately, strong 

 winds are generally accompanied hy a good deal of sea ; 

 and when that is the case, although a great deal of 

 extra warp be allowed in order to equalize the strain 

 and prevent jerking, it is difficult to keep the trawl 

 steadily moving over the grouiid. Tliere is always 

 a danger in such cases of breaking the warp, and 

 almost a certainty of doing so and of losing the whole 

 gear if the net should then get foul ; besides this, the 

 difficulty of heaving up the trawl is greatly increased, 

 two or three hours are often spent in the operation, and 

 the fish are liable to be killed and very much knocked 

 about before they can be got on board. All these cir- 

 cumstances combine to induce the fishermen to wait for 

 more moderate weather, it may be for only a day or 

 two, or perhaps more, but in any case the supply of fish 

 sent to market is lessened for the time ; the weather 

 which puts a stop to the work of one vessel having 

 probably the same effect on most of those fishing in the 

 same district. The Plymouth trawlers are especially 

 subject to loss of time from bad weather in winter, as 

 at that season south-westerly winds prevail at the 

 mouth of the Channel, and there is commonly a good 

 deal of sea setting in over their very limited fishing 

 ground, only a few miles from the land. Although 

 they can and do work when it blows very fresh, a suc- 

 cession of heavy gales almost puts a stoj) to trawling 

 there, and the supply of fish landed at Plymouth 

 fluctuates more than on any other part of the coast. 



In the North Sea each smack when fishing with the 

 fleet remains at sea for six weeks or two months at a 

 time, and frequently at so long a distance from land 



G 2 



