SCOTCH FISHERIES. 181 



drift men could recognize only their own mode of 

 fishing as the right one, and they brought charges 

 against the " trawlers " of destroying young fish, 

 frightening the shoals away, preventing the passage 

 of the fish to the inner parts of the lochs, and finally 

 they said that the herrings caught by the " trawl " 

 were often so bruised and knocked about, that they 

 were not fit to cure. The one important objection 

 of the drift fishers to the system of " trawling " or 

 seaning, was elicited in the course of subsequent 

 Government inquiries into the dispute, and this was 

 that the large catches of herrings sometimes made by 

 the " trawl " lowered the market price of the drift 

 fish. The curers also joined in the dispute, because 

 the trawl fish were mostly sold in the fresh-market, 

 and consequently cured fish were in less demand. In 

 1851, an Act was passed to put a stop to " trawling " 

 for herrings on the coast of Scotland, and more strin- 

 gent measures were brought to bear on the trawl 

 fishermen in 1860 and 1861, so as to effectually sup- 

 press their operations. Serious disturbances and colli- 

 sions had taken place between the two sets of fisher- 

 men, and a gunboat became necessary in Lochfyne to 

 ensure the law being carried out. So strong a feeling 

 existed, however, among a large body of the fishermen 

 and others that the complaints against " trawling " 

 were unjust, and the prohibition injurious to the inte- 

 rests of the public as well as to the fishermen imme- 

 diately affected by it, that the subject was formally 

 investigated by the Government, as previously men- 

 tioned ; a special Koyal Commission being appointed 



