210 DERP-SEA FfSTirxri. 



called " wliitinp:," deserve notice, as they are abundant 

 and of large size ; but the true whiting is a very scarce 

 fish on the Guernsey coast, although so numerous on 

 the English side of the Channel. 



Fishing with trammels is very general at Guernsey 

 and the other islands, and one of the most profitable 

 methods in use there. The true trammel, made up of 

 three nets,^ is the one employed, and the usual length of 

 the outer nets or "walling" is 50 fathoms, the central 

 net or "liut" being twice as long, although contracted 

 to the limits of the others. Trammels are worked from 

 July to the end of the year, and with most advantage 

 about dusk and daybreak. The evening is the time 

 generally chosen ; in the summer the nets are set about 

 () P.M. and taken up at 0, and in the shorter days of 

 winter the fishermen are on the ground as early as 

 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and the nets are hauled in 

 after being a couple of hours in the water. They are 

 set in places where the tide is not very strong, and in 

 the direction of the stream — not across it. It is in 

 these nets that the red mullet for which Guernsey has 

 such a name are taken. These fish are foinid there of 

 a considerable size, 2| lbs. being no unusual weight for 

 them ; they rank high among " prime " fish, and the 

 London market is always a safe one to send them to. 

 Mullet will not take the net well in the dark, and in 

 this respect differ remarkably from those kinds of fish 

 which are generally taken by drift-nets, and which it is 

 well known are caught in the largest numbers during 

 dark nights, or when the water is discoloured. Of the 

 other fisheries there is not very mucli requiring notice. 

 A little trawling is carried on all the year round with 

 nets having beams 18 feet to 20 feet long, but the nets 



' See Traiiuiu'l, |>. 17"). 



