1186 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



was introduced in England only about sixty years ago, and which, though 

 in a smaller form, has been in use on the German North Sea coast for 

 a long time and is known by the name of "fcwrre." The trawl-net, a 

 funnel-shaped bag, measuring 100 feet in length, and having an opening 

 of from 30 to 50 feet, is fastened to a beam resting on runners, and being 

 heavily weighted is dragged along the bottom of the sea by a sailing ves- 

 sel or steamer. Thirty years ago Grimsby had only one trawl-net, while 

 now it has from 600 to 700, which are taken to sea in much larger ves- 

 sels than formerly, having a crew of 6 or 7 men each. In 1845 Hull had 

 21 fishing vessels, of 570 tons, valued at 128,500 marks [$30,583], while 

 in 1883 there were engaged in the trawl-fisheries 417 vessels, of 29,233 

 tons, with 9 steamers and ice-vessels, valued at 11,000,000 marks 

 [$2,G18,000]. In all England there are at present engaged in these fish- 

 eries 3,000 sailing vessels and steamers. The capital invested in this 

 industry is 300,000,000 marks [$71,400,000], and the annual income 

 therefrom is upwards of 70,000,000 marks [$16,060,000]. The total 

 crews of this vast fishing-fleet number from 15,000 to 20,000 men, and 

 as many are employed on shore in preparing, packing, and shipping 

 fish. 



Decrease of the fisheries. — For flat-fish and cod, at a considerable 

 depth, up to 100 meters [55 fathoms], the trawl-net is well suited, but 

 undoubtedly does great damage near the coast by destroying enormous 

 masses of young flat-fish which are not yet fit for use. The trawl-fishers 

 themselves grant that frequently as many tons of crushed young fry 

 are thrown overboard as are caught for the market. Hundreds of 

 thousands of hundredweights of young flat-fish are annually used as 

 manure, and people may say what they please about the inexhaustibility 

 of the sea, yet it is an undeniable fact that, as in the Baltic since the 

 introduction of the "seese" [a net resembling the trawl net], the size of 

 flounders has decreased to an alarming degree, so in the North Sea 

 the flat-fish seem to be constantly growing smaller as the number of 

 trawl-nets increases ; that many i^laces where generally large quantities 

 of flat-fish were caught are hardly visited any more by these fish ; and 

 that, although there is a considerable increase in the number of fish 

 brought into the market, this increase does not bear the due proi^ortion 

 to the increase of the fishing industries. There is, consequently, a ten- 

 dency in England to limit the use of the trawl-net near the coast, and 

 various experiments have been made to diminish the hurtfulness of this 

 net. Among these attempts we must mention the one made by De 

 Oaux, and exhibited at Berlin in 1880, which consisted of replacing the 

 trawl-heads by wheels, and stringing large wooden balls on the bot- 

 tom rope so as to prevent it from cutting too deeply into the bottom, and 

 to let it glide over places overgrown with ijlants without injuring the 

 vegetation . 



Meshes of nets. — It is a serious drawback that the meshes of the 

 trawl-net, which, at the back part of the net, are generally 4 centimeters 



