FISHERIES. 



shad. Of late years, however, it has been pretty 

 well determined that the white-bait is the young 

 of the herring or the sprat. It is necessary to 

 couple the two fish, because large quantities of 

 white-bait have serrated bellies the same as the 

 sprat, whilst others have not ; and it is said that 

 the sprat cannot be the young of the herring 

 because of its serrated belly. At one period, 

 white-bait was not so much esteemed as at pres- 

 ent. When Pennant wrote, it was eaten only by 

 'common people' and 'the lower order of epicures.' 



IV. THE FLAT-FISH AND MACKEREL FISHERIES. 



It would not be any exaggeration to say that 

 ie turbot is the most costly fish that comes to 

 ic table. The family to which the turbot belongs 

 called the Pleuronectida, and it includes also 

 the sole, the halibut, the brill, the dace, the plaice, 

 and the dab. Flat-fish are captured chiefly on the 

 English coasts, and largely on the coasts of Hol- 

 land, the instrument employed being a trawl-net. 

 Trawling is a very simple way of fishing, and well 

 adapted for the taking of flat-fish, which are mostly 

 denizens of the deeper parts of our seas. The net 

 employed in this method of fishing is in the form 

 of a large bag open at one end. It is suspended 

 from the stern of the fishing-lugger, which drags 

 it at a slow pace over the fishing-banks. 



We are indebted to the industrious Hollanders 

 for a portion of our flat-fish supply. The Dutch 

 fisheries begin early in the spring season; and 

 neither the Scotch nor English pursue the fishery 

 with the same success as our enterprising neigh- 

 bours from Holland. As the year advances, the 

 fish are found in deeper water, where the line 

 must be resorted to. The fishery terminates 

 about the beginning of autumn. The coasts of 

 Devonshire, and off Dover towards the French 

 side, are all productive places for the taking of 

 these kinds of fish. Soles have been caught 

 of the great weight of nine pounds, and very 

 frequently of five pound-weight. Skate-fishing, 

 which is much followed in the north, is similar to 

 the other kinds of trawl-fishing. The skate, how- 

 ever, belongs to a distinct family the Rays. ' In 

 the Firth of Forth/ according to Dr Parnell, 

 'these fishes are met with in great numbers, 

 particularly in the neighbourhood of the Bass and 

 May, where they are taken in nets, and are often 

 found on lines set in deep water for cod.' 



The commerce in all kinds of flat-fish is very 

 considerable, as may be inferred from the fact, 

 that in one year as many as fifty million pair of 

 soles have passed through the great market of 

 Billingsgate ; and plentiful supplies reach London 

 without being enumerated. The turbot supply of 

 the same year was 2500 tons ; as much as ,120,000 

 have been paid to the Dutch in one year for 

 turbot. Of dabs and flounders, 112,000 pound- 

 weight are recorded as used in the great metro- 

 polis alone. The flounder is a plentiful fish; it 

 is said that about one hundred millions of dab 

 and plaice are consumed annually in London. It 

 is recorded that three millions of flounders were 

 once taken on the coast of Denmark, and that it 

 took a large body of men two or three weeks to 

 secure them. We may judge from these figures 

 of the quantities consumed by the busy populations 

 of those other large towns which are fortunate 

 enough to procure the luxury of fresh fish. 



It is astonishing, notwithstanding the number 

 of years we have trafficked in these flat-fish, how 

 little we know of their natural history, the periods 

 at which they spawn, how long it is before the spawn 

 quickens into life, or when the fish becomes 

 reproductive. The turbot has a social history. It 

 was the favourite fish of the historical epicures, 

 although some writers say it was the brill which 

 earned the praise of the classic poets. The very 

 large turbot that we read about as once being 

 common fish of from twenty to seventy pound- 

 weight are never seen now ; and we suspect that 

 the great fish alluded to one of 190 pound-weight 

 in particular were halibut 



It is right to note that trawl-fishing is a most 

 wasteful mode of capture, as the gigantic apparatus 

 kills and 'hashes' more fish than it captures, 

 besides turning up beds of spawn, and destroying 

 the feeding-grounds of the fish. It is difficult, 

 however, to point out any other mode by which 

 such ground-fish could be trapped. 



The chief places of the mackerel-fishery are on 

 the English coast, although a good many of this 

 fine fish are now taken on the coasts of Scotland 

 and Ireland. Great Yarmouth, already alluded to 

 in our account of the herring-fishery, is noted for 

 the large supplies of mackerel which it sends to 

 market The prosperity of this town has chiefly 

 arisen from its fisheries. When the fishing- 

 luggers come ashore with their cargo, it is at 

 once disposed of by auction, and despatched in all 

 haste to London, where, of course, there is a ready 

 market for any quantity of fish. It is a study in 

 mackerel- fish ing to have the fish in the market 

 with the greatest possible celerity : to achieve thi> 

 result, several fishermen will join into a company, 

 and what is taken by the united fleet of boats in 

 an hour or two, is sent off in one of them to the 

 shore, in order to catch a convenient train. 



The mackerel is a voracious feeder, and its 

 growth rapid ; but the largest fish are not ac- 

 counted best for the table. Those taken in 

 May or June are considered superior in flavour 

 to such as are caught either in early spring or 

 in autumn. The mackerel spawns in June ; and 

 540,000 ova are said to have been counted in one 

 female. 



The modes of taking this fish are, in general, 

 the same as those employed in the herring-fishery, 

 varied by the two other methods which arc thus 

 described by Mr Couch : ' The one by means of a 

 long deep net, with small meshes, by which the 

 fish are surrounded, and then either taken from 

 the water by flaskets, or hauled direct to the land, 

 in the manner of a ground-net ; the other by 

 means of a hook and line, called trailing' The 

 latter forms a first-rate marine sport, and is thus 

 performed : The mackerel will bite at any bait 

 that is used to take the smaller kinds of fish ; but 

 preference is given to what resembles a living and 

 active prey, which is imitated by what is termed a 

 task a long slice cut from the side of one of its 

 own kind, near the tail. It is found also that a 

 slip of red leather or piece of scarlet cloth will 

 commonly succeed. The boat is placed under 

 sail, and a smart breeze is considered favourable ; 

 hence termed a 'mackerel breeze.' The line is 

 short, but weighed down with a heavy plummet ; 

 and in this manner, when these fish are plentiful, 

 two men may capture from five hundred to a 

 thousand a day. 



711 



