THE SEA FISHERIES OF IRELAND. 377 



wide spread in its distribution, almost every creek from the south of Cork to 

 the north of Mayo taking part in it. On the south-west coast the fishery 

 opens with seine fishing, and in September the seines — with which often im- 

 mense hauls have been made ; (in Garinish in West Cork, 50,000 mackerel 

 have been taken at one sweep of the net) — are discarded for gill nets. These 

 gill or meshing nets are sometimes drifted, or else anchored out at sundown, 

 and visited during the night or in the early morning. The fish are then 

 taken in hand by the curers. They are split, washed, salt rubbed in, and 

 packed, an abundance of clean, fresh water for washing determining the site 

 of the curing station, as it also does to a great extent the quality of the cure. 

 When the final packing takes place, 210 lbs. of fish are carefully weighed 

 out for each barrel, which is then filled up with clear pickle, and the weight 

 of fish guaranteed by the merchant's brand on the outside. Where railway 

 facilities are good a certain amount of this autumn mackerel finds its way 

 fresh to the English markets, but the great bulk of the trade is with 

 America. The price obtainable there has fluctuated since 1887, when this 

 trade began, from ten to twenty dollars per barrel. The size of fish pre- 

 ferred in America is that which counts about 300 to the barrel. The mack- 

 erel caught on the American coast run to a larger size than this. Efforts 

 have been made to place pickled mackerel on other markets, but ud to the 

 present no better market than the United States has been found.. Crushing 

 of barrels and consequent leakage of pickle during the voyage to America, 

 is one of the difficulties the trade has to contend with. 



Cod and Ling. 



Cod and ling frequent the coast in considerable numbers, and from almost 

 every creek where fishing boats can be kept men proceed to neighbouring 

 " banks " or grounds where, from the nature of the bottom and the presence 

 of suitable food, these fish congregate during the winter and spring. 



The fishing is carried on by means of long lines, and the success of the 

 industry depends largely on the supply of bait. 



The difficulty of obtaining herring bait is one of the greatest that besets 

 this fishery, and the consequence is that the men who could only obtain 

 lug worm or mussel bait, took to using very small hooks on their lines, thus 

 hoping that small haddock or whiting would take the hook, and in turn be 

 swallowed by a cod or ling. In the reorganisation of the fisheries, the 

 matters of first importance to inculcate have been the procuring of proper 

 bait, and the use of large hooks, such as are used on the great lines in the 

 North Sea, together with a great extension of the lines. On some portions 

 of the coast there is considerable local sale for the catch, but on the West 

 coast the difficulty and expense of quick transit makes it frequently more 

 profitable to cure the fish, and at the stations opened by the Congested Dis- 

 tricts Board this curing is done according to the most approved methods. 



Herring Fishing. 



The policy adopted by king herring, in his treatment of the Irish coast, 

 has been most aggravating, as he has shown a fickleness quite different 

 from his course of action on the Scottish coast. The only explanation is 



