A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



this at the time of the year when no other fishing 

 is possible. The fish are exported to French 

 markets. 



The deep-sea trawling off the coast is carried 

 on chiefly by the large trawlers from Plymouth 

 and Brixham, and much fish from this source is 

 landed at Newlyn in the spring and early sum- 

 mer ; but many of these boats, which are much 

 larger than those of the local fleets, carry their 

 catches to their home ports. A small amount of 

 trawling is done by local boats near the shore, 

 especially in Mount's Bay. 



Trammels are chiefly used by the crabbers to 

 catch Ballan Wrasse (locally known as John Ray 

 or Jocky Ralph) and other coarse fish for use as 

 bait in the crabpots, but the surmullet, pollack, 

 and other high-class fish caught command a ready 

 market. 



There is a small number of boats employed 

 in fishing with boulters, catching considerable 



quantities of the large pollack (a fish which 

 reaches a size of as much as 15 or 16 lb., and is 

 locally esteemed a great delicacy) and conger, with 

 other bottom fish. 



The oyster fishery in the Helford estuaries 

 and the several creeks of the Fal was at one time 

 a large and remunerative industry, but from 

 various reasons has fallen off very considerably. 

 Of late years there has been a fair improvement, 

 and about twenty-five boats are engaged more or 

 less regularly at the work. 



With the exception of Falmouth, where the 

 boats used are the well-known yawl-rigged Kea 

 punts, and Mevagissey and Polperro, where 

 many of the boats are cutter-rigged, the Cornish 

 fishermen, as a whole, adhere to the old-fashioned 

 dipping lugsail for their boats, in defiance of the 

 common opinion that the inconvenience of work- 

 ing these sails more than outweighs their 

 undoubted sailing qualities. 



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