112 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 



fathoms, and we got none of the small plaice, that is to say, none under 

 about 12 inches. The captain said we were 1<S or 20 miles west of 

 the Sylt, but this was merely an approximate estimate, and we 

 were probably somewhat farther out. Again, in the fourth haul, the 

 vessel was steered away from the coast out to the depth of 12 to 

 13 fathoms, and small plaice were taken in insignificant numbers. 



2. Scarborough. 



I was at Scarborough from August 12th to August 21st, and during 

 that time was not entirely occupied in the study of the fishing industry. 

 Consequently I do not pretend to give a complete description of 

 the fishing at this place. Scarborough did not present any features 

 of sufficient importance to demand a long and close investigation. 



The harbour is small, and situated in the angle between the south 

 side of the Castle Eock and the shore of the bay, which runs towards 

 the south-east. A large number of drift-net boats belonging to 

 Lowestoft were fishing out of Scarborough, and landing their catches 

 there, but they did not use the harbour much, anchoring for the most 

 part outside in the bay in the morning, and sailing out to shoot their 

 nets in the evening. There were a considerable number, about twenty, 

 of similar boats belonging to Scarborough. These had a fore-and-aft 

 rig like the Lowestoft boats, with a foremast which could be lowered 

 on to the deck. IJut I found that none of them were engaged in 

 drift-net fishing : they were all employed in long lining. I asked a 

 man belonging to one of them, why it was that Scarborough drift-net 

 boats had thus abandoned the work for which they were built, and left 

 the herring fishery in the neighbourhood, which was by no means 

 unimportant, to be carried on entirely by boats from Lowestoft. He 

 said the Scarborough boats could not make the herring fishing pay, 

 and that the Lowestoft men only made a profit out of it because they 

 fished on Sundays. 



The real reason is probably that increasing competition has led 

 to more complete specialisation in fishing operations. A few boats 

 which remain at one station and change their mode of fishing 

 according to the season, cannot compete with the large number of 

 Lowestoft and Scotch boats, which are always employed in drift-net 

 fishing, and fleets of which move from one part of the coast to 

 another, making their headquarters wherever herring or mackerel are 

 to be found at the time. The Scarborough boats were forced by 

 circumstances, either to become nomads in the same way, or to find 

 some other profitable employment, and they have found the latter in 

 the long-lining which, in the deeper waters off the north-eastern 



