OF THE GRIMSBY TRAWL FISHERY. 423 
stagnant water a large percentage will survive for an hour, and that 
fish which appear sickly at first, for the most part recover after a time. 
Of the flat-fish the little plaice were especially hardy, and would 
survive not only a good deal of exposure on the deck before being 
placed in water, but also the two miles’ jolting in a cart involved in 
conveying them from the docks to the Cleethorpes Aquarium,—a 
process which proved too much for most of the cod and whiting. 
Soles* and lemon soles are seldom injured by capture in a 
shrimp-trawl. The latter are especially hardy, and a number of 
very small ones survived all the vicissitudes of capture and travel, 
and lived for about a year in the Cleethorpes tanks, where they 
would probably be still flourishing if they would only have let each 
other’s tails alone. Soles which had been chafed, either in the net 
or in handling, ultimately died in the tank, as they always 
appear to do in confinement ; but I do not think it follows that they 
die if returned to the sea, as specimens are trawled which have 
evidently recovered from serious wounds. 
Dabs, especially very small ones, are delicate, and will survive 
but little exposure on deck, or injury from chafing. This matters 
the less, as the species, being a keen competitor in the matter of 
food with more valuable kinds, is not deserving of any special 
protection. 
Flounders are about as hardy as any fish I know. 
I consider, therefore, that we may acquit the Humber shrimp- 
trawlers of any very great destruction of small fish other than those 
which they bring ashore to sell. I do not pretend that the same 
judgment can be passed on the industry as conducted on the north- 
west coast. 
Longshore shrimping by shove-nets——If, however, we acquit the 
trawlers, we can hardly do the same for the shore-shrimpers. The 
shove-net used along the Humber sands (and southwards along the 
whole coast of Lincolnshire, I believe), is a sufficiently formidable 
engine. ‘The frame is shaped like the letter T, the cross-piece re- 
presenting the beam, which is nine feet long, with a short iron 
upright at each end; while the shaft, represented by the body of 
the letter, is rather shorter, and has a short transverse handle. The 
lower end of the net is laced to the beam and uprights, the upper 
end being gathered on to an iron ring, which is drawn up the shaft 
by means of cords passing through the handle of the latter. In 
this way the belly of the net is made exceedingly rigid, and its 
meshes are almost closed, so that shrimps, &c., slide right up into a 
small bag situated just below the ring. 
These nets are shoved along the margin at low tide, either by 
* Except on muddy grounds, where shrimpers have no legitimate business. 
