268 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



corresponding demand for persons of that description ; 

 bat the fishermen have again increased, and both drift 

 and line fishing are carried on there as before. Mussels 

 for bait are obtained in some quantity from the beds in 

 the Tees. The deep-sea trawlers land a good deal of 

 fish at West Hartlepool when they are fishing on that 

 part of the coast, as the railway provides very con- 

 venient communication with many of the best markets ; 

 the smacks, however, do not belong to the town, but 

 come from Hull and Grrimsby. 



These vessels have also been in the habit of taking 

 some of their fish to Sunderland, where, by breaking 

 down the monopoly of the local fishermen, they raised 

 the storm which in 1863 led to the inquiry into the 

 general condition of the sea fisheries, and the effects of 

 beam-trawling on the supply of fish to the markets. 

 That the inquiry ended in disproving by overwhelming 

 evidence the accuracy of the statements put forward by 

 Mr. Richard Crick, the President of the Fishermen's 

 Committee, and the leader of the assault against the 

 " nefarious practice of trawl-net fishing," was no doubt 

 unexpected by that gentleman ; but it may be some 

 consolation to him in his desire for the good of " the 

 takers and the partakers of fish," to find that his 

 gloomy anticipations have not been realized, and that 

 a largely increased fleet of trawlers is now, ten years 

 later, bringing in an enormous supply of fish, though 

 insufficient for the demand, whilst the line-boats are, at 

 all events, not doing worse than they were in 1863, 

 and in many places have increased in number and size. 



A few miles north of the Tyne lies the village of 

 Cullercoats, possessing in 1863 a purely fishing popida- 

 tion, and sharing with the people of Sunderland and 

 other places along the coast in the anticipation of ruin 



