78 THE HERRING IN HISTORY 



Complaints having been made that the people 

 of Blakeney in Norfolk sold their fish too dear, 

 it was ordained that all fishing vessels of the 

 town and the adjacent coast as far as Cromer 

 should bring the fish to Blakeney ; nor were the 

 fish to be carried out of the vessel till the owner 

 had sold them, and then only in clear daylight. 

 No fish might be sold by secret agreement, and 

 no fishermen might store the fish for sale at 

 higher prices later on, nor might any but a 

 fisherman buy hooks, nets and fishing tackle 

 in the county of Norfolk. 



In 1357 was enacted the Statute of Herrings 

 already deferred to. The preamble states that 

 the people of Yarmouth made a practice of meet- 

 ing the fishing boats and buying the herrings at 

 sea, and that the keepers of the lodging-houses 

 assumed the prerogative of selling the herring 

 belonging to the fishermen who lodged in their 

 houses, paying what they thought proper for 

 them, thereby defrauding the fishermen and 

 cheating the public in resale. It was there- 

 fore enacted that no fish should be sold until 

 the boat bringing them was moored to land ; 

 that the fishermen should have full liberty to 

 sell their fish at Yarmouth between the rising 

 and setting of the sun ; that the price of her- 

 rings to be cured as red herrings was not to be 

 above forty shillings per last of 10,000 ; that 

 the pykers — vessels which carried fish between 

 London and other ports— were not to be 

 allowed to buy herrings in Yarmouth harbour 



