FISHINa STATIONS— ISLE OF MAN. 339 



commences early in June. The fisli are at first mostly 

 taken at a little north of Peel, on the western side of 

 the island, and thence southwards to the Calf of Man 

 as the season advances. It is continued along this part 

 of the coast and a little south of the Calf until the end 

 of September, when the fish are said to spawn on the 

 rough ground in the latter neighbourhood. The prin- 

 cipal herring fishery is therefore confined to the southern 

 half of the western side of the island, and it is not very 

 easy to explain in a satisfactory manner why it should 

 be so. In October, however, herrings are found in the 

 neighbourhood of Douglas, where there seems to be no 

 doubt of their spawning. These herrings are described as 

 being of a different class from those caught off the Calf, 

 and are supposed by the fishermen to come from the 

 north-east to what is considered as suitable spawning 

 ground. The opinion held by many persons, that each 

 district in the island has its own particular fish, is pro- 

 bably correct within certain limits ; but it must not be 

 forgotten that the large herrings taken off the Calf are 

 caught towards the end of the season, when all the 

 fishing is in that neighbourhood, and the herrings on 

 the western side generally may be expected to have 

 attained their full development, which is nowhere the 

 case at the beginning of the season. Indeed, a close- 

 time,^ ending early in June — the time when most of 

 tlie boats now begin work — has been advocated by 

 many of the fishermen to prevent the small fish being 

 taken, as is sometimes done in the latter part of May. 

 Although it appears likely therefore that all the fish 



^ By an old Act of Tynwald herring fishing was prohibited between the 

 1st of January and the 5th of July within nine miles of the island ; but the 

 law does not appear to have been enforced for a long time ; and the Isle of 

 Man being included among the " British Islands " to which the Sea Fisheries 

 Act, 1868, applies, the local regulations cease to have any force. 



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