FISHERMEN AND FISHERIES. 257 



whilst drift-net fishing is carried on in the North Sea 

 generally. 



In the English Channel the chief fishing grounds are the 

 Ridge and the Varne off Dover, Rye and Teignmouth 

 Bays, and the waters by Brixham and off the Cornish 

 coast. Trawling and drifting are carried on in the Irish 

 Channel from the Welsh ports before mentioned. Tenby 

 adjoins a large trawling ground, and the sea off St. David's 

 Head will probably form a successful ground in the future. 



The Isle of Man alone possesses more than 230 boats 

 of the first class, and this fact in itself affords a proof that 

 the fishing grounds in the surrounding waters are numerous. 



Although a fishing ground is not necessarily a spawn- 

 ing ground, it is obvious that those parts of the sea are 

 most fished which are believed to contain the most fish, and 

 the most fish will naturally be found near spawning grounds. 

 Little, however, is known of the exact locality of spawning 

 grounds, and it is probable that many of them vary in 

 situation from year to year. The knowledge of the site 

 both of fishing ground and spawning ground is acquired by 

 experience alone ; and experimental knowledge increases 

 very slowly amongst fishermen. Directed by prudence, they 

 naturally prefer using the same known grounds year after 

 year to the risk of seeking entirely new ones, although it is 

 of course possible that many localities much more profit- 

 able than any of those known may exist. When more is 

 understood of the migration of fishes, it is possible that bad 

 seasons may be entirely prevented by learning how to 

 follow the fish systematically from place to place. Shoal- 

 fish are already followed round the coast, but our whole 

 system of fishing may be said to consist more in passively 

 waiting for fish on their presumed grounds than in actively 

 hunting them down. 



VOL. IX. E. 7. S 



