VALUE OF THE HERRING-FISHERIES. 141 



As a source of national wealth, the herring-fishery is of 

 signal importance. In Scotland and the Isle of Man it 

 employs nearly 300 vessels, manned by 1200 men and 

 boys ; while the total number of boats, decked or un- 

 decked, is about 10,000, manned by 45,000 fishermen 

 and boys. Add to these the coopers, gutters, packers, net- 

 makers, and other labourers, dependent more or less 

 directly on the herring-fishery, and it would seem pro- 

 bable that it supports 90,000 persons in Scotland alone. 

 The value of the nets in use exceeds ,400,000, and of the 

 herring-boats 300,000. 



In England the herring-fishery, it is well known, has 

 been carried on since the beginning of the eighth century. 

 In Normandy it commenced before the eleventh. Holland 

 owes its prosperity in no small degree to this fishery, 

 which the Dutch have always prosecuted with great 

 energy. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century 

 they almost monopolized it, employing in it 2000 boats ; 

 while it is computed that this single branch of industry 

 supported 800,000 persons in the two provinces of 

 Holland and Western Friesland. They have been dis- 

 tanced, however, by the British fishermen, and find for- 

 midable rivals in the Americans, Norwegians, and French. 



The Scotch herring-fishery is regulated by special Acts 

 of Parliament, and controlled by a Board, known as the 

 " Commissioners for the British Fisheries." This Board 

 allows of no other method of taking the fish than by a 

 drift-net, " trawling" being illegal in Scotland. The 

 drift-net is composed of fine twine worked into meshes of 

 an inch square, and measures 50 yards in length and 33 

 feet in depth. These nets are joined together, and let 

 into the water in a straight line, where they are kept 



