556 THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 



pretty. That they began to cure herring on a much 

 larger scale in 1 866 and subsequent years. 



^thly. That the whole production of cured-herring, and 

 the number of ships employed in that production, took a 

 leap upwards about the same time, and they have since then 

 been constantly increasing. 



yhly. That a gradual lowering of cured-herring prices 

 (see the lowest prices in columns 12 and 14) coincides with 

 the increase of production. 



Thus the irrefutable verdict of statistics now corrobo- 

 rates what one corporation realised in 1829, and what the 

 Committee on Fisheries in 1854 set down as the funda- 

 mental idea of reform, viz. that abundant capture, and not 

 high prices, were the means of restoring the Dutch herring 

 fisheries ; whereas the ancient system was based on the 

 opposite theory. 



Abundant capture (setting aside, of course, the 

 vicissitudes of herring seasons) could only be, and was, 

 obtained by means of improvement in the fishing processes. 

 The progress of these improvements may be described as 

 follows : the net of hemp was supplanted by the cotton net, 

 the use of the cotton net brought luggers and cutters into 

 use instead of the old clumsy " hookers " ; and the use of 

 new nets and ships caused the capture to increase five-fold 

 in fifteen years. The cotton net therefore gave the 

 impulse to the thorough revival of the fishery ; and the 

 cotton net could not have been used under the Grand Fishery 

 Regulation, 1827, which prescribed all nets to be made of 

 hemp yarn. 



An eminent shipowner, Mr. A. E. Maas, of Scheveningen, 

 was the first to import cotton herring-nets from Lowestoft, 

 about 1857 ; and at the outset used those nets in bum- 

 boats only. The superior catching power of the nets at 



