OF THE GRIMSBY TRAWL FISHERY. 419 
and brill may be occasionally caught, as on other coasts, but I do 
not know for a fact that they are. . 
Though the smaller kinds of flat-fish are not generally fished for 
by inshore liners on that part of the east coast of England with which 
I am best acquainted, there is at Scarborough a regular line-fishery 
for soles during a part of the year, but practically no immature 
soles frequent the ground. In Lough Swilly, on the north coast 
of Ireland, there is, as I am informed, a considerable destruction 
of small soles by line-fishers, but I know of nothing of the sort in 
the North Sea. 
Inshore trawling.—Of the proceedings of inshore trawlers in the 
Wash, and on the coast to the south, I have no special knowledge. 
Northof the Wash to the Humber I do not think thereis much trawling 
within the three-mile limit. From Donna Nook to the Tees estuary 
the legitimate use of the fish-trawl in inshore waters is restricted to 
a portion of Bridlington Bay, but I am not acquainted with the 
results as regards immature fish. There was formerly a good deal of 
fish-trawling in the Humber, but this is now forbidden by the bye- 
laws of the local Fisheries Committee, though the practice has not, 
I believe, been eradicated. With the exception of a small propor- 
tion of large soles between July and October, there are no mature 
trawl-fish, except dabs and flounders, in the river. Whatever 
destruction now takes place may be best considered in connection 
with shrimp-trawling. 
Shrimp-trawling —Shrimp-trawling is carried on in the Humber, 
under the provisions of the Fisheries Committee’s bye-law, from the 
1st March to the 31st October. About fifteen cutter-rigged boats are 
engaged. The largest is of 22 tons; about eight are from 8 to 11 tons, 
and the remainder from 15 to18tons. All carry similar gear, viz. a 
trawl of shrimp mesh, with a beam not exceeding (by enactment) 20 
feet in length, and a thick hempen ground-rope. Some of the larger 
vessels also possess what are called sole-nets, viz. trawls of a larger 
mesh than that which is used for shrimps, and, in spite of the 
provisions of the bye-law, did, within quite recent times, use them 
in the river; but I believe that the Committee’s officer, though 
hampered by the want of anything in the shape of a police- boat, 
has done a good deal to check this practice. Be this as it may, all 
fish brought to market by these boats purport to have been caught 
in the pursuit of their legitimate industry, so may be considered 
under the present heading. 
The fish landed consist of soles, plaice, flounders, and a few 
common dabs. The quantity of fish landed is never large, and 
would hardly deserve consideration were the general supply more 
abundant. 
