198 " Trawling on the Solway. 



through the mesh, and no doubt many of them are successful. 

 They roll themselves up into very small compass and work their 

 way to freedom, but often miss their opportunity through thread- 

 ing another mesh before well clear of the first, and so land back 

 into the trawl instead of outside it. 



The skate, or more correctly the Thornback Ray, is very 

 plentiful in the Solway, and these fish are much esteemed in the 

 English markets, though they are not a popular form of diet in 

 Scotland. A good sized skate weighs from 14 to 16 lbs., but the 

 true skate (locally called a dinny), which is occasionally captured, 

 weighs much more than this. The Thornback Rays are vora- 

 cious feeders, and they are very partial to young fish of all kinds, 

 also crabs, shrimps, and cockles. How they ever get anything 

 into their mouth is a mystery, for it is right underneath the fish 

 while the eyes are on the top of the head. These fish shed their 

 eggs in May and June, and by July numbers of the tiny rays are 

 taken in the trawls amongst the seaweed and rubbish. 



This brings me to a point in connection with trawling which 

 is very much misunderstood. One frequently hears it said that 

 trawling is a most wasteful method of taking fish because so man\ 

 immature fish are destroyed. This is perfectly true up to a cer- 

 tain point, but the statement needs some modification in the case 

 of small trawlers, such as those used on the Solway. I would 

 point out that the destruction of immature fish is caused by the 

 pressure of water passing through the net as it is dragged over 

 the bottom. The larger the boat the greater this pressure is, and 

 it is probable that in the trawls of deep sea smacks there is a 

 tremendous loss and waste, but with a small smack trawling in 

 shallow water the pressure is so slight comparatively that when 

 the net is lifted the small flounders and skate are all alive, and 

 these are collected with the rubbish (seaweed, etc.) and thrown 

 overboard, and one can see them darting away to the bottom little 

 the worse for their experience. I have found that a skate twice 

 the size of my hand is more easily killed in the net than one the 

 size of a shilling — possibly this is because it presents a wider sur- 

 face for pressure without having the tough sturdiness of a full- 

 grown fish. While I would not say there is no waste and loss on 

 board a Solway trawler, I do say that this is very much over- 

 rated, and is nothing in comparison to the damage done, for 

 instance, by a steam trawler, where the whole catch is killed 



