386 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 



are taken in them, but only the larger plaice are kept, all small fish 

 being allowed to escape. Thus, except that all Humber plaice are 

 immature, there is no intentional destruction of undersized fish in 

 this industry. 



Shove-net Shrimping. — The hand shrimp-net in use along the Humber 

 sands is a sufiiciently formidable engine. It is shaped like the letter 

 T, the cross-piece representing the beam, which is 9 feet long, 

 with a short iron upright at each end, while the shaft, represented 

 by the body of the letter, is somewhat shorter. The lower end of the 

 net, either sprat or shrimp mesh, is laced to the beam and uprights, 

 the upper end being gathered on to an ii'on 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 it into 

 a fine mesh bag or cod-end just below the ring. 



There are a number of these nets in Cleethorpes, but most of them 

 are not worked with any great regularity, as the incidence of the 

 Cleethorpes " season," from Whitsuntide to September, brings other 

 and more lucrative occupation to the owners. As a rule, however, 

 a good many shrimpers go out every springtide, and some, engaged 

 with pleasure-boats during the day, shove the net by night. 



Great numbers of small fish are caught in these nets, and very 

 many are undoubtedly destroyed, since the men are not always careful 

 in sorting them out at the margin, but often carry the whole catch 

 home ; sorting by night is of course a difficult matter. 



Small soles, turbot, and brill are usually promply returned if 

 observed, and lesser weevers* enjoy an undeserved immunity, since 

 their room is preferred to their company; but little " flat-fish,'^ really 

 plaice, are not held to be of much account. 



The shrimps and small fish seem to accompany each other in 

 approaching and leaving the margin, since a good haul of the former 

 always involves a large number of the latter, and vice versa. The 

 minute metamorphosing stages of flat-fish are never found in this 

 company, the smallest plaice and dabs which I have seen being 

 about 1 inch long, and the smallest turbot, brill, and sole over 2 

 inches. As might be expected, the sizes vary with the season of the 

 year, but not to any great extent ; and the following list, representing 

 the catch of one net for one tide about the beginning of the season 

 (25th April), is sufficiently representative of the conditions during 

 the spring and summer. 



* Injuries from this fish are not uncommon, probably because the fishermen, in their 

 dread of the harmless anterior dorsal fin, pay no attention to the opercular spine. 



