25 



size for herrings with four winter rings, and these were classified 

 by herring curers as mat -fulls. Larger herrings were caught on 

 the ground to the north-east of the Longstone. 



Fishing now begins as soon as the herrings appear off the 

 coast. In April drifters come to North Shields. They catch 

 herrings for bait for line fishing about 100 miles from the port, 

 and as soon as the young herrings come nearer the coast the shoals 

 are fished, and the fishery is pursued with increasing intensity from 

 May to September, smaller quantities being caught towards the 

 middle and end of September and the beginning of October. For 

 the five years, 1910 to 1914, the yearly average of Northumberland 

 Coast herrings landed at the ports of Northumberland w^as 508,000 

 cwts. It is not urged that protective measures ought to be taken 

 in connexion with our local herring shoals, as so far as is known 

 the fishing is still highly productive. But it is thought desirable 

 to draw attention to the intensity with Avhich the shoal is fished, 

 to the length of the fishing season, to the age composition of the 

 shoal, and to compare the area as a spawning ground with its 

 position some twenty years ago. 



Growth (Table I.) — When reporting on the herrings examined 

 in 1913,* a table was given to show the average size at the forma- 

 tion of the winter rings for each year group of the samples. This 

 method of analysis is considered deficient in that it does not show 

 the variation which occurs, and whilst the average growth of the 

 Northumberland Coast herring differs from that of oceanic herring 

 as sampled by Hjort at Stornoway and the Shetlands,t i^ i^ i^o^ 

 thought that the growth determinations expressed as averages 

 can yield the whole of the information desired and show^ differ- 

 ences, if any exist, for shoals of North Sea herrings. 



The period elapsing between hatching and the formation of 

 the first winter ring varies according to the spawning time of the 

 adult. It is therefore assumed that any difference of growth 

 between two or more shoals of herring will be most evident from a 

 consideration of the grow^th made to the formation of the first 

 winter ring, and also that any mixing of shoals as suggested by 

 Hjort and Lea for a sample of herrings caught off Grimsby t will 



* Report New Series, III. t Pub. de Cir., No. 53. 



I Pub. de Cir,, No. 61, page 9. 



