ECONOMIC FISHING. 167 



captors, or, if need be, left imprisoned for a few days 

 within the enclosed area of the seine -net. But on the 

 Scottish coast what a difference ! All is hurry, all is 

 turmoil ; and everybody seems bent upon doing his 

 work at a maximum of speed, too often with a minimum 

 of result. If the herring did not take fright at the 

 clamour, it would deserve a tribute of admiration as the 

 calmest and most composed of fish ! 



Economic fishing, says the writer already quoted, is the 

 one grand point of the fishery. " To capture as many 

 herrings as possible, without deranging the economy of 

 the shoal, ought to be the study of all engaged in the ad- 

 venture. But economy cannot be very well studied in 

 such a game of chance as the Scottish herring -fishery, 

 when the skipper of a boat rushes out his mile of netting 

 without knowing whether he will be rewarded by the 

 capture of a single fish. Seineiiig has this advantage, 

 that the net is not shot on chance. The men of Cornwall 

 and their imitators on Loch Fyne know that there is a 

 body of fish on the spot before they commence their 

 labours. For the last year or two the Scottish herring- 

 fishery has been wonderfully productive, but the take has 

 been, on the whole, not commensurate to the extent of 

 the netting and the number of boats in use. Remarkably 

 prolific as the herring is known to be, it is feared by 

 economists that it is still possible to exhaust or so dis- 

 turb the economy of certain shoals as to render them un- 

 productive." 



The disadvantages of the drift-net are very serious. 

 The fishermen using it may shoot it twice in a night, and 

 each time on an unproductive spot. It is only by the 

 result they can tell whether they have or have not hit the 



