72 The Sea-Herring. 



(1) The COMMON HERRING (Olupea harengus) may be re- 

 garded with us as of two kinds, or, as some would infer, demon- 

 strating two races one the sea-herring, the other estuarine- 

 herring, so called autumn and spring herrings. There appears 

 to be no hard and fast line distinguishing these other than size, 

 the areas they occupy and their times of spawning. 



(a) The Sea-herring, which frequents mainly the deep cen- 

 tral depression of the southern portion of the North Sea, seems 

 to come more landwards, and be found in spawning condition 

 from October to December, according to circumstances. At 

 least they are pursued and captured in drift-nets by the fisher- 

 men of Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Deal, Kingsdown, 

 Dover, Folkestone and Dungeness. The Essex men seldom 

 use drift-nets, hence sea-herring fishing at the present time is 

 purely a Kentish industry. 



So far we have not yet learned the exact whereabouts of the 

 spawning-ground of these sea-herrings, though the area between 

 the Galloper and Kentish Knock, and the shallow water near 

 the Falls have been suggested. Howsoever this may be, it 

 appears that some of the spent fish from these North Sea shoals 

 evidently make their way up the estuary. One old spratter 

 states that in the neighbourhood of the West Spile Buoy and 

 the flats thereabouts they used to catch in their stow-nets, 

 towards the end of November and December, from 500 to 60"0 

 herring on a tide. These usually were full sized and clearly, 

 or in the majority of cases, shotten fish. There also has been 

 other occasions when these sea-herring have ascended the 

 Medway and Thames to the limits of the fresh water. Gr. 

 Kirby recalls such a case occurring some 20 years ago, when in 

 February a great shoal came up the Medway and were caught 

 in numbers. As stated by him these were quite like Norway 

 herrings in appearance and size, ranging from 10 inches to a 

 foot long. However, they turned out of little value, " eating 

 quite dry, and woolly " evidently spent fish. Ab. Robinson and 

 others further tell us that in their fathers' time (about 1820?) 

 extraordinary shoals of sea-herrings visited various parts of the 



