76 River-Herring versus " Yawlings." 



We have only incidentally heard of the possibility of such a 

 herring fishery in the Harwich neighbourhood ; but our in- 

 formation thereon is too meagre and contradictory to be relied 

 on hence further inquiry is therefore necessaiy. Estuarine 

 herring, however, seem to frequent the Yarmouth shore, for 

 Patterson (loc. cit.) mentions a G-inch example full of roe, and 

 another of similar size, April, 1890, containing 143 opossum 

 shrimps. According to Holdsworth (Deep Sea Fishing, 1874) 

 there was in the Wash " a small variety of the common herring, 

 which appears in December and spawns in February and 

 March," He further adds, that it agrees with Yam-ell's reputed 

 species of those of the Thames mouth (supra). Taking these 

 data into consideration, it may be inferred that the estuarine 

 or spring-spawning herring is not restricted to the latter river, 

 but is spread in fewer or greater numbers along the seaboard 

 of East Anglia from Kent to Norfolk and Lincolnshire. 



Pursuit of herring seems never to have formed a distinct 

 branch of the Leigh fisheries. Nevertheless for several months 

 of the year in the Thames estuary and the creeks along the 

 Essex coast, herrings of various ages and stages of growth 

 muster in considerable force. Among those got in the stow-net 

 a certain percentage of the adult larger sized ones from 6 

 inches upwards or thereabouts are recognised by the Leigh - 

 men as true herrings. But others of smaller size 2 to 5 inches 

 and over captured in company with them, and locally known as 

 " yawlings," most of the fishermen will not admit are young 

 herrings. 



They, indeed, insist these are a separate species of fish [sic], 

 though belonging to the herring tribe. Many of the men 

 declare in support of their assertion that they frequently 

 get these fish full of rips roe, though some fishers of older 

 standing avow this does not tally with their experience. 

 We have examined specimens, but unfortunately those 

 hitherto received have proved rather unsatisfactory evidence 

 in confirmation of the above view. Take for example among 

 other cases examined by us one batch of 13 received 20th May, 



