382 NOTES ON THE HKRKING, LONG-LINE, AND PILCHARD 



Notes on the Herring, Long-line, and Pilchard 

 Fisheries of Plymouth during the Winter 1889-90. 



By 



William Roach, 



Associate Member, Marine Biological Association, Plymouth. 



I. The Herring Fisheky. 



[The herring fishery is carried on at Plymouth during the winter 

 months, when the adult herring seek the inshore waters for spawn- 

 ing. Besides these, however, the so-called *' harbour herring " 

 are taken in the summer and autumn ; these appear to be the 

 produce of the last spawning season, i. e. six months to a year old. 

 Mr. Cunningham has shown me specimens taken in the Cattewater 

 in May, 1889, which vary from 3^ to 5 inches in length. Those 

 which are at present being brought to the Laboratory (September, 

 1890) are 9 or 10 inches in length, but their reproductive organs 

 are still at an extremely early stage of development. Further 

 observations on these harbour herring are much needed, and are 

 being gradually made. 



The nets used up at Saltash for these harbour herring are, Mr. 

 Roach informs me, used three to a boat, 7 score 7 meshes in depth 

 and 44 fathoms to the rope, that is, 132 fathoms long, with buoy- 

 lines 1 fathom deep. Those used in the Sound vary with the size 

 of the boat. The smaller boats have two or three nets, 12 — 13 

 score meshes in depth, and each 40 — 42 fathoms long ; buoy-lines 

 4 — 5 fathoms apart, and 2 fathoms long ; the latter are shortened 

 up a fathom at low water. The boats used outside the Break- 

 water have three to four nets each, 13 — 14 score meshes deep. 

 The next boats (9-ton dandy hookers, 36 feet long, 10 feet beam, 

 worked by 4 men) use ten to twelve nets, 15 — 16 score meshes 

 deep. The largest boats are decked, use sixteen to eighteen nets, 

 16 — 18 score meshes in depth, with 3-fathom buoy-lines ; they are 

 worked by 6 men. The proper herring mesh for full-roed fish is 



