82 INTRODUCTORY 



drift nets. About 1905 fishermen from Milford 

 Haven and Fleetwood began to capture con- 

 siderable quantities of herring by trawling 

 from steam trawlers in daylight from Barra 

 Head southwards to the north-western coast 

 of Ireland. The method was not successful 

 at night. Trawling for herring gradually be- 

 came general in the North Sea. In 1912 three 

 per cent, of the total weight of herrings landed 

 was captured in trawl nets. Steam and joint 

 stock enterprise have revolutionised sea fishing 

 during the last thirty years. 



The direction of the wind seems to have some 

 effect upon the catches of herring. Large 

 catches are not made in calms, or during 

 northerly winds, and the best are made when 

 the wind is S.S.E. Unsettled water is far pre- 

 ferable to clear, as is a green sea to a blue, from 

 the fishermen's standpoint, but a series of 

 violent thunderstorms has been known to 

 frighten the fish away from a district. 



The following is a list of the herring fishings 

 with their dates :— 



England. — East Coast Spring fishings at Shields 

 and Lowestoft, but neither is of great importance, 

 the chief fishings being in the late summer and 

 autumn. July and August : Berwick, Seahouses, 

 Blyth, Shields, Hartlepool, Scarborough, Grimsby, 

 Whitby. August to Christmas : Yarmouth and 

 Lowestoft, South and South- West Coasts. Yarmouth 

 " longshore " herrings are caught early in September. 

 October and November: Folkestone and Hastings. 

 November to January : Torbay, Plymouth, Newlyn, 



