CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE HERRING-FISHERY. 287 



" On further inquiry I found that this interference of 

 Lord Vernon's, referred to by the harbour-master, had, in 

 1817, produced the XDarliamentary inquiry, by a Select 

 Committee on the South Devon Fisheries, at the instance 

 of the great body of fishermen on that coast, by whom a 

 document was signed to the following effect : — 



" Brixham-quay, Torbat, nth Jurie 1817. 



" * We, the undersigned, being persons concerned in 

 ' the fisheries between Start and Exmouth Bay, do 

 ' hereby declare our opinion, that it will materially pro- 

 ' mote and benefit the said fisheries, if trawls and drag- 

 ' nets are prohibited being used in Torbay, from 1st May 

 ' to 1st November ; in Start Bay, from 1st May to 1st 

 ' October.' 



" The recommendation of this Parliamentary Com- 

 mittee, after hearing evidence, was — 



" ' That it will conduce to the benefit both of the public 

 ' and the fishermen themselves, if Start Bay, Torbay, and 

 ' Exmouth Bay, on the southern coast of Devonshire, 

 ' are kept free from trawl and shore drag-nets during the 

 ' spawning season ; and they are the more induced to re- 

 ' commend some regulations to that effect, as it has been 

 ' clearly shown that it will not throw any fishermen out 

 ' of employment during those months, and will be the 

 ' means of increasing the quantity of cheap and nutritious 

 ' food, on which all the lower ranks of society in that part 

 ' of the country chiefly subsist.' 



" By the evidence taken before that Committee, it ap- 

 pears that there were, at that time, employed in the 

 trawl fishery — 



" ' Four or five hundred men and boys, and about one 

 * hundred vessels.' 



