316 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CASE. [CHAP. vn. 



that only about half a hundredweight in each two tons of 

 the fish taken is unfit for the market. He does not think the 

 fish are decreasing either in quantity or size. 



John Clements, a trawl-net fisherman from. Hull, was one 

 of the men examined at Sunderland ; his evidence was as fol- 

 lows : " I have followed trawling for twenty-six years. I 

 have fished down here for ten years. There was no diminu- 

 tion of fish at Hull ; , but we land it easier here, and in a bet- 

 ter condition for the market. I never noticed any spawn in 

 the nets, but I have got a basket or two of small fish, which, 

 when not fit for food, we throw away. In the ten years which 

 I have come down here I have found an increase in the 

 quantity and take. I think trawling increases the fish, as the 

 trawl-net turns up the food of the fish, worms and slugs, and 

 the fish follow the net like a swarm of crows after a harrow. 

 I do not think that we disturb the spawn in that way. This 

 morning there were two or three haddocks broken out of six- 

 teen or seventeen baskets, each basket containing seven or 

 eight stones. The trawl-net fish do not fetch such a good 

 price as the line fish, but it is from the quantity and not the 

 quality. We have added to the enjoyment of the people of 

 this town by the good supply of fish we have given them. 

 Twenty years ago a month's catch was about 50, and now it 

 is from 80 to 120 ; and this is not from the better price, 

 but the greater quantity which we are enabled to get by go- 

 ing farther out to sea with the larger boats. In the winter 

 time I fish on Dogger Bank, and in summer inshore. I 

 never came across any of the long-line nets. I have found 

 herring-spawn in haddocks ; but I have never found any in 

 the net. We catch a good deal of sand here. It comes in 

 as soon as we stop ; but it falls through before we get the net 

 to the surface of the water. The farther off we go the more 

 haddocks we get ; and the nearer we come to the shore the 

 more soles we get. I have caught a good deal of cod. In one 



