A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



netted. The number taken up the rivers by 

 netting may be estimated at about one-eighth 

 of the total yield at Ravenglass on the 

 average. 



A few fish commence to run in May, but 

 the principal numbers run in June, July, 

 August and September. The sea trout are 

 the first to run, which they do in June and 

 July, the grilse coming usually in July and 

 August. The largest salmon are the last to 

 ascend. A few salmon are generally taken 

 each season exceeding 20 Ib. in weight, but 

 only one exceeding 30 Ib. in weight has been 

 recorded. That was taken on 10 September 

 1902 and weighed 36 Ib. 



There are three modes of taking sea trout 

 and salmon at Ravenglass by nets. Two are 

 used in connection with a fixed stake net 

 placed in the river Esk at Ravenglass. The 

 first is by a trap, or as it is locally called a 



' fish-house,' which takes fish on the flood tide, 

 and into which the fish once entering cannot 

 easily return. The second is on the ebb tide 

 by an ordinary fish garth, a 2-inch grating 

 stopping the fishes' descent to the sea. The 

 third mode of capture is by a long draught 

 net, worked by two fishermen with the aid 

 of a boat. By this means all likely pools in 

 the estuary are drawn. The principal one 

 near the harbour mouth, called Mungarth, 1 is 

 constantly drawn at every ebb, while the fish 

 are running, during the netting season which 

 closes on September 14. 



The Ravenglass fisheries are in the West 

 Cumberland Fishery District, which extends 

 from St. Bees North Head lighthouse on the 

 north to Haverigg Point on the Duddon on 

 the south. This district was formed in 1879. 

 All fishery rights at Ravenglass are owned by 

 Lord Muncaster of Muncaster Castle. 



THE SOLWAY FISHERIES 



So far as can be ascertained the value of the 

 Solway Firth as a fishing ground was first 

 discovered in the year 1853, when trawling 

 was commenced in the northern part of the 

 Firth by a fisherman named James Baxter 

 hailing from Morecambe with a boat called 

 James. When he began trawling he found 

 that shrimps, soles, plaice, cod and skate were 

 very plentiful, and on this news spreading 

 additional boats commenced fishing year after 

 year until at the present time there are about 

 sixty boats engaged in fishing from Silloth 

 northwards to Burgh Marsh Point, a distance 

 of about eighteen miles, and at least 240 

 boats to the south of Silloth, making alto- 

 gether a total of about 300 boats at work on 

 the Cumberland coast, including trawl-boats, 

 draft and drift-net boats, and also boats used 

 in line-fishing. 



Draft-net fishing for sparling (otherwise 

 known as smelts) was next discovered and for 

 a time proved a valuable industry, but owing 

 to the absence of any close time during the 

 breeding season, the fishermen captured them 

 all the year round, in consequence of which 

 the fish became so nearly extinct that the pur- 

 suit of them almost ceased. 



Up to about the year 1865 fishermen used 

 any kind of nets they wished, including such 

 as trap-nets, poke-nets and stream-nets, these 

 of course being ' fixed engines,' but about this 

 year their use was by Act of Parliament de- 

 clared illegal on the English side of the Firth. 

 The law, however, did not prevent their use 

 on the Scotch side, and they still continue to 



be used there to the present time. Line fish- 

 ing for cod and skate was also followed. 



In the year 1864 oyster dredging was com- 

 menced opposite Maryport by a boat hailing 

 from Fleetwood in Lancashire, and as the in- 

 dustry was found to be productive, it attracted 

 some thirty large boats from Fleetwood, Jersey, 

 and other ports. This fishing continued pro- 

 ductive for about three years, but then gradu- 

 ally fell away owing to the bed being over- 

 fished. As the fishermen were unable to make 

 a livelihood it practically ceased to be pursued. 



As might naturally be expected, owing to 

 there being no close season for any of the 

 different kinds of sea-fish and no restriction in 

 the size of the mesh of nets which were used, 

 fish of all kinds grew scarcer and scarcer until 

 in fact the Firth became almost valueless as a 

 fishing ground, and this state of things con- 

 tinued up to the year 1897, when the Cum- 

 berland Sea Fisheries bye-laws came into force. 

 Since that year the fishing industry has in- 

 creased by leaps and bounds. In their first 

 annual report the committee thought it only 

 right, before dealing with the principal objects 

 of the report, to give a short reiumi of the 

 circumstances which had led to the formation 

 of the Cumberland Sea Fisheries District. 

 The facts were shortly these : In the month 

 of November 1893 the Sea Fisheries Com- 

 mittee, which was then composed wholly of 

 members of the County Council of Cumber- 



416 



1 Monkgarth, a fishery formerly belonging to 

 the monks of Calder (Dugdale, Man. v. 342). 



