358 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



the introduction into the Fisheries (Ireland) Act, 1869, 

 of clauses providing for voluntary agreements between 

 the owners of fishing boats and the crews, with pen- 

 alties for any breach of such agreements on either side. 



Tlie trawl-smacks each have a crew of three men and 

 a boy, and the excellent system of payment by shares 

 is adopted at Dublin as at Brixham, and most other 

 trawling stations. The earnings are divided into eight 

 shares, of which the vessel takes lialf, and the remaining 

 four are distributed in the proportion of one-and-a-half 

 to the master, one each to the other two men, and half a 

 share to the boy. 



The slight change of rig — that from the cutter to the 

 ketch which we have spoken of as having been made in 

 many of the English trawlers, has not been adopted in 

 the Irish vessels ; but the size of the latter has not yet 

 been increased to such an extent as to make the altera- 

 tion especially desirable. 



Although trawling has been carried on for many 

 years along this part of the coast, the grounds which 

 have been and are still systematically worked by the 

 Dublin smacks are not very extensive. They lie for 

 the most part within a triangle occupying the space 

 between Dublin and Dundrum Bays and the Isle of 

 Man ; but the whole of this ground is not available for 

 trawling purposes, as there are some rough places and 

 a good deal of mud. The fishing grounds consist of an 

 irregular series of patches differing in shape and extent, 

 and these are worked successfully according to the 

 season ; the inner grounds — the neighbourhood of the 

 Kish Bank, Skerries Bay, and the Mountain Foot 

 ground — being fished during the colder months. The 

 Isle of Man ground, abounding in soles, and lying in 

 deep water, is usually worked from March to July. In 



