GREA T BRITAIN. 263 



become from 40 to 44 to the yard, catching large ones by 

 the snout, but allowing them to drop out and be lost. 



Shoals of herrings have occasionally been met with of 

 such considerable size that they have broken the warp-rope 

 of the nets, and the whole of the gear has been carried to 

 the bottom. 



As herrings are caught at sea they are put into the hold 

 and mixed with salt ; ice may likewise be employed for 

 this purpose. The fish first removed from the vessel are 

 the most valuable, as having been subjected to less pressure 

 and a purer atmosphere. As a rule, when the sea is calm 

 and the temperature high, the takes become more or less 

 iled before they can be landed ; in some places the use 

 steamers has obviated this, and communications between 

 e fishing fleet and the shore may be maintained, as at 

 ontrose, by the employment of carrier pigeons. If the 

 steamers were furnished with a double set of gear, so 

 that the tanks containing the captured fish could be re- 

 moved at once and fresh ones substituted, a tide would 

 be gained to the manifest advantage of the fisheries, as the 

 steamers could at once return to the fishing fleets. Mr. De 

 Caux has given it as his opinion that the alterations in the 

 fishery laws have been so mischievous that now, although 

 the killing power of drifters in the same district (Yarmouth) 

 has increased six-fold, the quantity of herrings captured 

 has augmented but slightly, even if it has at all. On 

 November 2ist, 1882, it was observed that " Herring fishing 

 at Great Yarmouth shows no falling off when compared 

 with the previous part of the season. Nearly 8000 lasts 

 have been landed, about 1600 more than at the corresponding 

 time last year, and there are still two months in which to 

 draw upon the shoals. ' 



On the Devonshire coast drift-nets and moored-nets in 



