( 130 ) 



ISLE OP MAN. 



(See Plan, p. 76.) 



THE Isle of Man is an island in the British Seas, 35 miles long and about 12 miles at 

 its greatest breadth, containing an area of about 350 square miles, and a population of 

 53,492 souls. The island enjoys the advantages of Home Rule. It has its own legislature, 

 its own judicature, and an independent revenue. There are five ports in the island from 

 which fishery operations are mainly conducted, viz., Douglas, Ramsey, Peel, Port St. Mary, 

 and Port Erin. Peel is the most important of these ports. The town of Peel possesses 194 

 first-class boats, measuring 5,044 tons ; 170 of these boats are supplied with full trains of 

 mackerel and herring nets, and represent a total capital of 750 a boat, or 127,500. The 24 

 other boats are supplied with only a herring train, and represent a capital of 550 each, or 

 13,200. Peel has about 35 second-class boats, representing 200 each, or 7,000. The 

 total capital embarked in the fishery at Peel is therefore 147,700. 1,727 men and boys 

 are employed in the fishery. Port St. Mary, with the adjacent ports of Castletown and Port 

 Erin, is the next most important. It contains 101 boats, representing a tonnage of 2,095 tons, 

 with a capital of 80,800, and employing 787 men and boys. In addition, 10 boats manned 

 by two men each, are employed in the southern ports of the island lobster fishing, and earn 

 500. These boats are principally engaged in the spring and early summer in the Kinsale 

 mackerel fishery ; in the summer and autumn, in the home and Irish herring fishery ; and 

 in the winter, to a certain extent, in the] long-line fishery ; but they also go to Scotland and 

 various parts of England. The earnings of the Peel boats are said to amount to Kinsale 

 mackerel fishery, 42,000 ; Herring fishery, 40,000 ; Long-line fishery, 1,500 total 83,500. 

 Placing the earnings of the Port St. Mary boats at the same proportion, they would amount 

 to 40,500. The port of Douglas contains 11 first-class boats, 15 second-class boats, and 9 

 third-class boats, having a total tonnage of 333 tons, employing 119 men and boys, and 

 valued at 2,800. The larger of these boats are trawlers, and work between Liverpool and 

 the island. Ramsey has 90 boats engaged in the fishery, with a tonnage of 609 tons, 

 representing a value of 10,306. and employing 219 men and boys. The principal fishery 

 here is the long-line fishery for cod, which extends from the beginning of October to the 

 end of May. In October, November, April, and May, it is conducted in small open lug-rigged 

 boats manned by 5 men ; during December, January, February, and March, the fishery is 

 conducted in deep sea-fishing boats yawl-rigged, with 50 feet keel and of 50 tons burthen. 

 The cod fishery thus occupies the time of the Ramsey fishermen for eight months out of 

 every twelve. During the summer months four of the cod boats are engaged in fishing for 

 conger on the west of the island, four of them go to Kinsale, while 64 boats, each manned by 

 only one man, are engaged in fishing for mackerel. The statistics of the Ramsey fishery may 

 be summarized as follows : Number of boats, 90 ; tons, 609 ; men and boys, 219 ; value, 

 10,306. The yield of the Ramsey fishery is as follows : 1. Open cod boats, 1,560 ; 2. 

 deep sea boats, 5,760 ; 3. Mackerel fishery, 1,344; 4. Eels, &c., fishery, 720 ; 5. Kinsale 

 fishery, 1,200 ; 6. Miscellaneous, lobsters, &c., 300 total, 10,884. The capital, therefore, 

 embarked in the fisheries of the Isle of Man is as follows : 1. Peel, 147,700 ; 2. Port St. 

 Mary, Castletown, &c, 80,500; 3. Ramsey, 10,306; 4. Douglas, 2,800 total, 241,306. 

 The people employed in fishing in the Isle of Man are as follows : 1. Peel, 1,727 ; 2. Port St. 

 Mary, Castletown, <fcc., 787 ; 3. Ramsey, 219; 4. Douglas, 119; 5. Lobster fishing, 20 total, 

 2,872. The yield of the Insular fisheries may be computed as follows : 1. Peel, 83,500 ; 

 2. Port St. Mary, Castletown, &c., 40,500; 3. Ramsey, 10,884; 4. Douglas, 5,000; 5. 

 Lobster fishing, 500 total, 140,384. In round numbers, therefore, some 250,000 is 

 embarked in the fishery, while the returns are about 140,000 annuaUy. Assuming that 

 10 per cent, is required annually to replace the capital, and repay the interest on it, 115,000 

 is available for division among the 2,870 men and boys employed, or 1 a week for each man 

 and boy for 40 weeks during .ach year. These figures do not, however, represent the whole 

 value of the fisheries to the island. It will be readily understood that the fisheries indirectly 



