38 THE IMPOVERISHMENT OF THE SEA. 



active work. It is possible that a number of Grimsby trawlers, which 

 supply the Shadwell market by means of steam carriers, should be 

 added to these figures, but in the absence of conclusive information 

 I have preferred to omit them. 



The collector's returns for Yarmouth have been accepted without 

 change. The same is true for Hull, except that the collector's number 

 for 1892 has been reduced from 300 to 280, since the Kegister, as well 

 as other evidence, precludes the possibility of admitting any increase 

 in the number of Hull smacks during the decade. 



In the case of Scarborough Mr. Ashford, the Fishery Officer of the 

 North-Eastern Committee, informs me that the local smacks have now 

 (February, 1900) entirely given up trawling. " There are a few (7) which 

 have been altered in rig, and are at present engaged in line fishing. 

 These, with twenty yawls, also liners, belong to the port. There are 

 about twenty yawls laid up, which have not left the harbour for years, 

 it being considered not worth while to keep them fit for sea. We have 

 also belonging to Scarborough fifteen paddle trawlers and three screw 

 trawlers, and one screw trawler working from Scarborough but owned 

 at Hull." Mr. Cunningham reported only eighteen sailing trawlers and 

 nine or ten steamers as belonging to Scarborough in 1895 {Jour. M. B. A., 

 iv. p. 113). The collector's returns of the sailing trawlers working 

 from the port are adopted in my table up to 1893, but his subsequent 

 returns (40, 40, 19, 28, 8) so clearly include a variable non-local 

 element that, in view of the evidence cited above, I have reduced 

 the excessive figures for three of these years, so that the entire array of 

 figures for the ten years exhibits a continuous decrease within verifiable 

 limits. 



The results of my analysis, as set forth in Table E, p. 67, show 

 that the estimated number of first class trawling smacks belonging to 

 the East Coast has fallen considerably during the decade, from 1,737 in 

 1889 to 1,015 in 1898. The fall is not, however, quite regular. The 

 Scarborough, Hull, and Grimsby smacks show a general decrease, but 

 the Yarmouth fieet (though subsequently broken up) was greatly 

 increased in 1890 and the Lowestoft fleet about 1892 (cf. the collector's 

 returns for 1892 and 1893 and the Great Eastern Railway Company's 

 returns, Table VII.), while the Ramsgate vessels, as shown by the 

 collector's returns and the Fishing-boat Register, have also steadily, 

 though slightly, increased in numbers. 



On the South and West Coasts the total number of smacks has 

 remained practically constant throughout the decade, varying from 546 

 at the beginning to 525 at the end. Here, also, the same phenomenon is 

 exhibited as on the East Coast, viz. a decrease at certain centres (Liver- 

 pool, Fleetwood) where the smacks are being replaced by steamers, and 



