28 INTRODUCTORY 



and the Isles " (1842) states that there are 

 200,000 Solan geese or gannets in the colony 

 of St. Kilda alone, each goose consuming on an 

 average five fish a day. The gannets feed at 

 St. Kilda for about seven months each year, 

 and in that time would, he estimates, devour 

 200,000,000 herring. 



The dogfish, detested by fishermen, however, 

 is probably the herring's worst enemy. He 

 bites the herring in two before swallowing it, 

 destroying more fish than he eats, and even 

 breaking the fishing nets in the violence of his 

 pursuit. 



Off the east coast of Scotland dogfish from 

 24 to 30 inches long are caught. They have 

 rough skins and spikes, and are known as 

 pike dogfish. For trade purposes they might 

 be called " sea-pike." Fishermen say that dog- 

 fish chase the herring toward the shore, and, 

 when wantonly destroying their prey, allow 

 the dead fish to drop to the bottom. The Dutch, 

 knowing that herrings, keen of sight and smell, 

 dislike water polluted by dead fish or fish 

 offal, forbade the gutting of herring at sea, 

 and the disposal of the offal near certain 

 herring grounds, as early as the seventeenth 

 century. Yet another cause of pollution can 

 be traced to the large spreads of nets that 

 from time to time get adrift in storms, and are 

 lost ; if they are full of captured herrings the 

 fish die in the nets, and their decaying bodies 

 pollute the water. The shoals will leave the 



