HISTORY OF SEA-FISHERIES. 199 



One branch of fishing wholly different in its 

 objects from all the other branches has been 

 described by the committee of 1833 under the 

 title of the Stow Boat Fishery. This fishing pre- 

 vailed principally upon the Kentish, Norfolk, and 

 Essex coasts : was the catching of sprats, not for 

 food, but as a manure for the land, for which there 

 is always a constant demand. This branch of 

 fishing was represented by the committee to have 

 much increased, and to have given employment on 

 the Kentish coast alone to from 400 to 500 boats, 

 which remained upon the fishing grounds fre- 

 quently for a week together, and until each had 

 obtained a full cargo of dead fish. The facility 

 which the pretence of employing these vessels in 

 fishing gave the smugglers led to an Act of Par- 

 liament, 6 Geo. IV, c. 108, under which vessels 

 and boats of certain descriptions required to be 

 licensed by the commissioners of the customs. 

 The licenses thus granted specified the limits be- 

 yond which vessels were not allowed to be em- 

 ployed : this distance was usually four leagues from 

 the English coast ; and it was affirmed that our 

 fishermen were injured by this restriction, because 

 some valuable fishing grounds laid beyond the 



