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IRISH FISHERIES. 



THE history of the Irish Sea Fisheries for the last 

 thirty years offers a painful contrast to what we know 

 of the English and Scotch fisheries within the same 

 period ; for it is a record of almost continuous decline 

 in the number of native fishing boats, and of the men 

 and boys who have any claim to be counted as fisher- 

 men little as that is in the majority of cases. And 

 yet this decline is due to no scarcity of fish on what 

 have long been recognized as the most productive 

 parts of the Irish coast the eastern side of the island, 

 where the herring fishery is regular and important; 

 and the southern coast, where mackerel abound in 

 their proper season. We learn from the Reports of the 

 Inspectors of Irish Fisheries something of what is done 

 there, and who are the persons who carry on the work 

 and obtain the reward. In 1875, the highest number 

 of fishing boats working in one day from Howth, the 

 most important herring fishing station, was 683. Of 

 these there were 219 Cornish, 197 Irish, 142 Scotch, and 

 125 Manx boats. The Irish boats were then only 29 per 

 cent, of the total number at work in purely Irish waters. 

 At Ardglass, the only other station of importance, and 

 in a more northerly situation, the largest average 

 number in any one week of the fishery was 287. These 



