334 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



the presence of the herrings on the banks atti-acted 

 large numbers of cod and turbot from the deeper 

 water, and trammels were then set for these more 

 valuable fish. The principal bank is from 8 to 10 

 miles long, and from 3 to 5 miles broad. The nets 

 used for cod have meshes 3^ inches from knot to knot, 

 and are 4 feet deep and 40 fathoms long ; and the 

 turbot nets are 3| feet deep, 50 fathoms long, and with 

 a 7-inch mesh. Besides these nets for catching cod and 

 turbot, longlines are employed for the same purpose, 

 and herring bait is attractive to both kinds of fish, as 

 well as to the coalfish, which is here also taken in great 

 numbers. 



The reputed capacity the cod and turbot on this coast 

 have for gorging herrings is beyond anything we have 

 either seen or heard of elsewhere ; and without vouch- 

 ing for the accuracy of the statements, or guaranteeing 

 the size of the fish swallowed, we may mention that one 

 fisherman in his evidence before the Commissioners said 

 he had often taken 15 or 16 herrings from the stomach 

 of a turbot, and another had found from 30 to 35 her- 

 rings inside one codfish ! Longlines are generally used 

 for the white fish, and are set 8 or 10 miles off the 

 land. 



There is very little requiring notice south of Ballan- 

 trae till we come to the Solway, and there the fisheries 

 are much the same as already described in Morecambe 

 Bay — shrimping and trawling for flounders, with a 

 little inshore line-fishing for codling. 



It will be seen from the notice we have now given 

 of the Scotch sea fisheries that, if not of a very varied 

 nature, they are still important of their kind. The 

 drift-fishery for herrings and the line-fishery for cod, 

 ling, and coalfish, are generally conspicuous, and on a 



