104 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 
Shore Fisheries. 
Stake-netting.—This industry has again proved a failure at the 
Cleethorpes station. Nets were first set up there in January, but 
proved so unproductive that they were soon taken down again, 
Another trial in February was not more successful. At Humberstone, 
however, the nets did much better. They were first erected in the 
early part of January, and by the end of that month tolerable catches 
were obtained, 16 stone for one day being the largest amount of 
which I have a note. This was on the 28th of the month. Two 
days earlier only 5} stone were found in the nets, after they had 
been fishing for nine days; there were also, according to my estimate, 
about two stone of young whiting, from 4 to 6 inches long, besides a 
few codling about 34 inches long, and a certain number of plaice from 
6 to 8 inches. As after this date the catch of sprats improved so 
much that it was worth while to lift the nets every day, or sometimes 
every tide, the number of young whiting became much less noticeable, 
though the total number destroyed in the same number of days may 
not have been any less. A few very small plaice, about 1 to 3 inches, 
were always to be found. The sprats at first comprised a good many 
that had hardly got beyond the whitebait stage, but towards the end 
of January and in February the size as well as the numbers 
increased. More nets were added to the Humberstone station, as 
many as 30 being down altogether. Thirty-five stone is the largest 
catch for one tide which I observed. The industry continued to be 
remunerative up to about the middle of March. 
Shove-net and “ seine’? shrimping.—These industries closed for 
last year about the end of September, and up to the end of March 
of the present year shrimps have not been found in sufficient numbers 
to encourage the fishermen to make a regular start. A few small 
plaice, however, and a brill of 9 inches were taken in a shrimp-seine 
on the 10th March. It is worthy of remark that regulations 
affecting the use of shrimp-trawls apply equally to the shrimp-seine, 
which is undoubtedly a trawl in spite of its name. 
Flat-fish netting.—TVhis is a shore fishery to which I omitted to 
allude in my last report. The net resembles an ordinary ground 
seine. It consists of a piece of netting, mesh about the same as in 
a herring-net, about 20 yards long by a yard high, corked and 
leaded. The ends are kept open by pieces of wood. The net is 
worked by two men, each having a rope attached to one end of it, 
who wade about 10 yards apart along the shallow water near the 
margin and haul the net behind them. In the summer a considerable 
number of small plaice and some soles are said to be procurable in this 
