284 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



inshore beam-trawling from Buckhaven and a few other 

 places on the north side ; a very considerable sprat 

 fishery is carried on with seans or " trawls " at the 

 higher part of the Firth ; oysters are dredged in other 

 parts ; and anchored nets are nsed for the capture of 

 various kinds of ground-fish. The fishermen along its 

 shores are moreover fortunate in being within easy 

 reach of markets for the produce of their labours, and 

 their position in this respect when compared with that 

 of their countrymen on many parts of the west coast 

 is an exceedingly favourable one. Eyemouth, North 

 Berwick^ Dunbar, and Newhaven are important among 

 the fishing villages in the Leith District, and are 

 especially interested in the herring and haddock 

 fisheries. Newhaven has long been a thriving fishing 

 station, and its boats, for many years among the best 

 on the coast, are now sharing in the improvements 

 which happily are becoming every day more widely 

 adopted. We need hardl}^ say that the Newhaven 

 fishwives, with their picturesque costumes and their 

 wonderful powers of tongue and work, have been the 

 theme of many a fluent pen ; and although the railway 

 has somewhat lightened the labours of these sturdy 

 dames, and the good people of Edinburgh now mostly get 

 their supply of fish from the resident fishmongers, there 

 is still plenty to be done close at home to call forth the 

 energies of the wives and daughters of the fishermen. 

 The oyster beds in the Firth are private property, 

 belonging to the Corporation of Edinburgh and to the . 

 Duke of Buccleuch. The fishermen make an annual 

 payment for each dredging boat, and all regulations for 

 working the beds, close-time, &c., are agreed upon and 

 carried out by the fishermen themselves. In the case 

 of the Corporation beds off Newhaven the fishery is 



