38 BRITISH FISH AND FISHERIES. 



sent to the London market are obtained on the 

 Dutch coast ; they are chiefly taken by Dutch 

 fishermen, and sold to the English. Turbot 

 are also abundant on the sand banks in the 

 Manche, where the French fishermen lay lines 

 for them, and sell their prizes to the English. 

 Turbot and dorg are taken along the Devon- 

 shire coast, and the former along the shores 

 also of Durham and Yorkshire. The principal 

 trawling-ground for soles extends along the 

 south coast of England, but this fish is common 

 on most of the sand beds round our coast. 



Mackerel visit different parts of our coast, 

 and are captured in vast numbers. They 

 swarm in March and the spring months, along 

 the coast of Sussex and Hampshire ; somewhat 

 later, they appear on the coast of Devonshire, 

 and they also visit the southern shores of Ireland. 

 It is from the coast of Sussex principally 

 that the great supplies arrive in the London 

 markets ; * vast shoals often occur on the 

 Suffolk coast. 



* The price of mackerel in the Billingsgate market is very 

 fluctuating. " It is said, that if during the mackerel season 

 a vessel come to the wharf at five o'clock in the morning, when 

 the market opens, the fish may sell from 48*. to 50*. a hun- 

 dred. Whereas, if the same vessel came at ten o'clock, the 

 mackerel would not be worth more than 36*. a hundred ; and if 

 she came in the afternoon, they would not fetch more than 24*. 

 or 28*." 



