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II.— DKIFT-NET FISHING. 



Long practice of — How the. fisli are caught — ProjDcr time for fishing' — 

 Description of drift-nets, materials, size — Yarmouth luggers, how fitted 

 lip — Herring fishing — Shooting the net — "Driving" — Interference by 

 trawlers — Regulations to prevent it — Hauling the nets — Mackerel fishing 

 — Pilchard fishing — Looking for herrings — " Appearances " — Phospho- 

 rescent water objectionable — Effect of sounds on fish — Piegular appearance 

 of the herring — Difterent seasons at different places — Notice of the seasons 

 at various localities — England, Scotland, Ireland — The herring a northern 

 fish, but not a migrant from the Arctic Sea — " Whitebait " — Consider- 

 ation of the question of its specific distinctness — Seasons for mackerel drift- 

 fishing at various localities — Season for j)ilcbard drift-fishing — Spawning 

 of the pilchard — Season for sprats — Spawning time — Drift- fishing for 

 sprats exceptional. 



Although nothing is known of the origin or intro- 

 duction into Britain of the method of fishing by drift- 

 nets, there is reason to think it has been practised by 

 our fishermen for many hundred years ; and it is cer- 

 tainly no modern invention, ah-hough pi'obably not 

 dating so far back as the scan or the casting net. The 

 ground on which now stands the thriving town of 

 Great Yarmouth is said to have been a place of resort 

 for fisliermen during the herring season as early as 

 the sixth century, and there is no reason for believing 

 that the long-standing Yarmouth fishery Avas ever car- 

 ried on by any other method than that of drift-nets, as 

 at the present time. We may conclude therefore that, 

 wherever the system originated, it has long been in 

 use, and that drift-nets have been more or less worked 

 ever since that remote and uncertain period when 

 herrings were first fished for in the open sea. They 

 are the only nets by wdiich fish like the herring, pil- 

 chard, and mackerel, which come much to tlie surface, 



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