222 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



In tills section of the coast trawling and drifting are 

 the important methods of fishing. The latter is prin- 

 cipally carried on from Hastings, in the Rye district, 

 and includes the fishery for mackerel, herrings, and 

 sprats. Rye Bay is a locality of some little interest in 

 connection with inshore trawling, as the ground has 

 been systematically worked over by small trawlers 

 from Hastings or Rye for a period beyond the recollec- 

 tion of anyone now living ; and although great num- 

 bers of very small fish have been taken there year 

 after year, there has been no failure in the supply of 

 marketable fish up to the present time. Deep-sea 

 trawling is carried on more or less from Folkestone, 

 Dover, and Ramsgate, and the last has gradually 

 become a very important station. It is a question 

 whether the Barking or the Brixham men first colo- 

 nized the place, but from its closeness to the Thames 

 it is probable that the idea of deep-sea trawling was 

 first derived from the former station. It has been 

 unquestionably developed, however, by the Brixham 

 fishermen, many of whose vessels have for about the 

 last forty years either fished from or been settled at the 

 port. Early in the present century there were only 

 three or four small inshore trawlers at Ramsgate ; 

 there are now 139 smacks, averaging 37 tons each; 

 and in June, 1873, about 100 of them were fisliing 

 from the station. The home ground is from north to 

 east of tlie North Foreland, but in winter many of the 

 smacks go into the North Sea and land their fish at 

 other ports, as the neighbourhood of Ramsgate is 

 dangerous in bad weather, and the trawlers like to 

 have plenty of searoom. We may here mention that 

 kettle-nets ^ are only used along this line of coast, and 



^ See Kcttk'-iK't, p. 107. 



