THE HERRING. 263 



British herring fisheries. 



on shore, that the beach for four miles round 

 the head was covered with them, from six to 

 eighteen inches deep : and the ground under 

 \vater, as far as could be seen when the tide was 

 out, was equally so. So thick and so forcible 

 was the shoal, as to carry before it every other 

 kind of fish ; even ground-fish, skate, flounder, 

 &,c. were driven on the shore with the first of the 

 herrings, and perished there. 



The principal of the British herring fisheries 

 are oft" the Scotch and Norfolk coasts ; and in 

 our seas the fishing is always -carried on by nets 

 stretched iu the water, one side of which is kept 

 from sinking, by means of buoys fixed to them 

 at proper distances ; and, as the weight of the 

 net makes the side sink to which no buoys are 

 fixed, it is suffered to hang in a perpendicular 

 position like a screen ; and the fish, when they 

 endeavour to pass through it, are entangled in 

 its meshes, from which they cannot disengage 

 themselves. There they remain till the net is 

 hauled in, and they are shaken or picked out. 

 The nets are never stretched to catch herrings 

 but during the night, for in the dark they are to 

 be taken in much the greatest abundance. When 

 the night is dark, and the surface of the water 

 considerably ruffled by the wind, the fishermen 

 always assure themselves of the greatest success, 

 ftets stretched in the day-time are supposed to 

 frighten the fish away. In order to strengthen 

 the nets, and render the threads more compact, 



