Q 



32 SMELTS OR SPAELING FISHERIES. 



the following places : Boston (Lincolnsliire), Brighton, 

 Lynn, Norwich, Ulverstone. The smelts come along 

 the Brighton coast ahout March. They are caught 

 with seine nets. They do not stay long on the Brighton 

 coast. The proper mesh for smelts at Brighton is 

 about fifty meshes to the yard. 



There is also a smelt fishery at Boston ; the smelt 

 fishing here commences in September and goes on to 

 May. In September they get smaller and are of not 

 much use. They are caught in the upper i3art of the 

 estuary ; the net is an ordinary seine, with wings and a 

 cod end. There is one smelting boat at Boston, but 

 there are three smelting boats at Lynn. The smelts 

 at Boston are full of roe in the end of April. 



At Ulverstone a considerable number of sparlings are 

 caught. Mr. Jackson Lea of the Kent Salmon Board 

 of Conservators informs us that in February the spar- 

 lings are heavy with spawn ; they begin spawning about 

 the middle of March, and the spawning is all over by 

 the middle of April. Tiiey come up into the bay in 

 early autumn, and follow the way of the salmon. 



Much valuable information as to the habits and food 

 of smelts, kindly given me by Mr. Wanking of Ulver- 

 stone, will be found in my appendix to the " Sea 

 Fisheries Report, 1879,' p. 201. 



There is a sparling fishery in the estuaries of many 

 of the rivers running into the Sol way, especially at 

 Wigtown Bay and the mouth of the Nith. They come 

 up in ]\Larcli nnd April to spawn ; they are very small 

 in June and July. From the end of July to the end of 

 August they get larger. In September they are at their 

 prime. Sparlings spawn at the head of the tideway ; they 

 never go further up the river than the brackish water. 

 They assemble in considera.ble quantities at the head of 



