180 BRITISH IND USTRIES. 



In the Firth of Clyde the fisheries are more varied, 

 and of considerable importance. At Campbelton we 

 once more meet with beam trawling ; but it is only in 

 shallow water near the shore, after the herring season ; 

 and flounders, with a few soles, are the principal fish 

 thus caught. The same kind of fishing is worked near 

 the mouth of the Clyde. There is also some fishing 

 by hand lines and long lines ; and set nets are used in 

 some parts of the Firth for catching cod, hake, and 

 other kinds of fish. Campbelton, the Kyles of Bute, 

 and Lochfyne, were for many years the scene of an 

 active struggle between two sets of fishermen, both of 

 whom were engaged in catching herrings, but by very 

 different methods. The usual mode of drifting for 

 herrings, as followed in deep water all round our 

 coasts, had long been the only recognized method in 

 the localities I have mentioned, as it still is prac- 

 tically on other parts of the Scotch coast. But about 

 the year 1838, the sean or circle net, known in Scot- 

 land as the " trawl," was introduced as likely to be as 

 useful for catching herrings in Scotland, as it is for 

 capturing pilchards, sprats, and mackerel in other 

 places farther south. It is most effective when used 

 near the shore ; and when the fish are in convenient 

 localities, a very large number may be enclosed at 

 once, and a boatload or more of herrings obtained, after 

 an hour or two of work in places where the water is 

 not deep enough for drift nets to be employed. It 

 might have been supposed that the drift fishers and 

 the " trawlers " in Lochfyne would be able to work in 

 their distinct localities without difficulty; but the 



