BKITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHEB CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 595 



vessels meeting them, and the law admits this view of the case by 

 obliging them at night to carry a single mast-head light as an anchor 

 light, instead of the regulation red and green side-lights for vessels 

 under sail. 



When the tide has finished, or the smack has reached the end of its 

 fishing ground, the trawl is hauled up by a winch or capstan. This 

 seldom takes less than three-quarters of an hour in fine weather, and 

 two or three hours if it be rough. The beam is got alongside, and 

 hoisted up and secured ; then the net is gathered in, the cod or end of 

 the bag being hoisted in by a tackle, and the cod-rope closing the end 

 being cast off, the whole catch of fish falls out on deck. The fish are 

 immediately sorted and packed away, and the fishermen prepare for 

 another haul, according to the state of the wind and tide. 



The fluctuations in the herring fishing are very remarkable, but 

 they are not more so on the coast of Scotland than on that of Norway 

 and elsewhere. Indeed, Norway and Sweden afford instances un- 

 paralleled in Britain of the disappearance of herrings from particu- 

 lar districts, and their return in the most unexpected manner after a 

 long course of years. On the coast of Scotland, the changes which 

 take place in the fishery consist in an increase or decrease at particular 

 districts, rather than a total disappearance from any one of them. 

 The most marked failure in recent years is in the Firth of Forth, where 

 the summer fishing has now been given up, only a small winter fishing 

 being carried on. At Wick, also, for a great number of years the 

 most important station on the east coast, the herring fishing has been 

 more or less diminishing, while at the same time Fraserburgh. only 

 about TO miles distant from it, has gradually assumed an unex- 

 ampled importance. It is true that in 1876 there was an immense 

 falling off in the quantity of fish landed at the latter port, but it was 

 a bad year at almost every station on the east and west coasts, and 

 the almost general decrease arose not from any apparent scarcity of 

 fish, but from the boats being frequently kept in harbor by a con- 

 tinuance of very bad weather during the fishing season, or being un- 

 able from the same cause to work their nets when they reached their 

 regular grounds. There is some reason for believing the alleged 

 scarcity of herrings near the land is not so great as has been supposed. 

 Successful fishing many miles out at sea has attracted large numbers 

 of boats from the home waters, and the catches inshore have been 

 consequently much diminished; still the general opinion appears to 

 be well founded that the fish have not entered the firths and lochs in 

 the last few years to the same extent as they used to do. That the 

 fisheries, taken as a whole, have been gradually increasing is shown 

 by the carefully prepared statistics of the Board of Fisheries; and it 

 is desirable to point out that the great increase in the quantity of net- 

 ting now used is to some considerable extent counterbalanced by the 

 shorter time the nets are in the water; for the boats go long distances 

 to sea, and they have to leave off fishing earlier in order to bring in 

 their fish in good time to the curers. 



Fuller details of the mode of working the beam-trawl will be found in 

 " Deep Sea Fishing and Fishing Boats." London, 1874. 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 6 46 



