282 



PROPORTION OF NETTING TO FISH. 



[CHAP. vi. 



The state of the case as between the supply of fish and 

 the extent of netting has been focussed into the annexed 

 diagram, which shows at a glance how the question stands. 



1818-1845. The drift of 

 nets per boat contained 

 4500 square yards. 



1857-1S63. The drift of 

 nets per boat contained 

 1(5,800 square yards. 



1818-1824. The aver- 

 age per boat 125J 



During the 10 years 

 1841-50 the average 

 catch per boat was 

 112 crans. 



1857-1863. The aver- 

 age per boat 82 crans. 



Before concluding this chapter I wish to say a few words 

 about a point of herring economy, which has been already 

 alluded to in connection with the special commission appointed 

 to inquire into the trawling system viz. as to the natural 

 enemies of the herring, the most ruthless of which are un- 

 doubtedly of the fish kind, and whose destructive power, some 

 people assert, dwarfs into insignificance all that man can 

 do against the fish : " Consider," say the commissioners, 

 " the destruction of large herring by cod and ling alone. It 

 is a very common thing to find a codfish with six or seven 

 large herrings, of which not one has remained long enough 

 to be digested, in his stomach. If, in order to be safe, we 

 allow a codfish only two herrings per diem, and let him feed 

 on herrings for only seven months in the year, then we have 

 420 herring as his allowance during that time ; and fifty cod- 

 fish will equal one fisherman in destructive power. But the 

 quantity of cod and ling taken in 1861, and registered by the 

 Fishery Board, was over 80,000 cwts. On an average thirty 

 codfish go to one cwt. of dried fish. Hence, at least 2,400,000 

 will equal 48,000 fishermen. In other words, the cod and 

 ling caught on the Scotch coasts in 1861, if they had been 



