182 MACKEREL FISHERIES. 



nets are, however, blamed for destroying many small 

 mackerel. These seines are used from Shoreham har- 

 bour on the west to Seaford on the east, about fifteen 

 miles. 



"At Eye, in Sussex, there is a very large mackerel 

 fishery. The mackerel here are caught in large fixed 

 nets, called kettle nets ; hence, probably, the phrase, 

 ^ What a pretty kettle of fish ! ' Each net is a little 

 over half a mile long. The poles on which the nets are 

 fixed are twelve feet high. There are three chambers 

 or bights connected with each straight piece of net. 

 The kettle nets are set on the 14th April, and taken up 

 at the end of November. 



" The catch of mackerel varies much. Sometimes as 

 much as 1,000 boxes (50 mackerel to each box) are 

 caught in one net at one tide. The railway authorities 

 give every facility for running expresses to London 

 when a large catch of mackerel is taken. One hundred 

 tons of mackerel were sent to London from Eye Station 

 in one night in June, 1877. 



"There are also mackerel fisheries at AVeymouth, and 

 many other places on the south coast. 



" For some reason or other the mackerel are said to 

 have forsaken the neighbourhood of Yarmouth and 

 Lowestoft, where they were formerly so abundant in the 

 months of May, June, and July." 



Mr. Matthias Dunn remarks, " That mackerel spawn 

 in May and June ; when first shed it floats on the water. 

 I have taken it from the parent fish when alive. Young 

 ones are a.bout four inches long in August, and about a 

 quarter of an ounce in weight ; their rate of growth 

 varies from summer to summer as they find food, or as 

 some summers are more abundant in food than others. 

 In the past August, September, and October they in- 



