TRAWLING. 21 



part in deep water, at a distance of very many miles 

 from the shore. 



I have been unable to ascertain anything of the 

 origin of trawling ; it may have been a common mode 

 of fishing in the bays and shallow waters along our 

 coasts during the last century, but good evidence of 

 such having been the case is wanting ; and it appears 

 quite certain that at the beginning of the present 

 century, the trawl vessels were few and of very small 

 size. No method of fishing, however, has so rapidly 

 developed as this, and the increase has been especially 

 marked during the last fifteen or twenty years. At 

 the present moment there is more capital embarked in 

 trawling than there has ever been since that mode of 

 fishing came into use ; and owing to the demand for 

 fish in all parts of the country, which has sprung up 

 in recent years in consequence of the facilities offered 

 by the railways for its transit to inland markets, prices 

 have increased to some extent, and, we are glad to say, 

 the fishermen now obtain a larger share than formerly 

 of what the consumer is called upon to pay. 



Trawl fishing is carried on to a large extent by the 

 French, Belgian, and Dutch fishermen; and on the 

 Spanish coast a net of the same kind, but without a 

 beam, and requiring two vessels instead of one to work 

 it, has been in use for a very long time. 



The principal stations in England for deep-sea 

 trawling are Plymouth, Brixham, Dover, and Rams- 

 gate, in the English Channel; Barking, Lowestoft, 

 Yarmouth, Grimsby, Hull, and Scarborough, on the 

 east coast ; Fleetwood, Whitehaven, and Liverpool, on 



