KING HERRING 



715 



in order to build up his navy, with the 

 distinct object of breaking up the Dutch 

 herring fishery on the shores of England 

 and driving the Dutch from "the four 

 narrow seas" over which England 

 claimed jurisdiction. At the expense of 

 the fisheries and navigation, Charles 

 finally fitted out the largest war fleet Eng- 

 land had ever had and succeeded in his 

 purpose so far as the Dutch were con- 

 cerned, but the levying of "ship money" 

 stirred up civil war at home and Charles 

 paid the extreme penalty. 



THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A FAILURE IN 

 THE HERRING FISHERY OF YARMOUTH 



Grimsby, Lowestoft, North Shields, 

 and Yarmouth, the important English 

 fishing centers on the North Sea, have 

 great interests in the herring fishery. At 

 Grimsby, the world's greatest fishing 

 port, and North Shields the herring is 

 overshadowed by the bottom fish caught 

 with beam-trawls, but at Lowestoft and 

 Yarmouth the herring predominates. 

 The fishery at Yarmouth, which may be 

 taken as a type, is carried on with steam 

 and sail vessels called luggers, -having a 

 crew of eleven men and carrying, as 

 means of capture, 200 gill-nets costing 

 $10 each. These nets are 30 yards long 

 and 20 yards deep, the average size of the 

 mesh, bar measure, being equal to a shil- 

 ling piece. When fishing begins the nets 

 are tied together and the entire comple- 

 ment is shot at one time. 



As the water is thick for fifteen or 

 twenty miles off Yarmouth, fishing may 

 be done at any hour of the day or night, 

 but the best times are about sunrise and 

 sunset. Fish are not left long in the nets 

 unless storms prevent hauling. Some 

 vessels land their fish fresh, others dry- 

 salt their catch at sea and store it in com- 

 partments in the hold. A vessel may 

 leave port, set nets, make a catch, and be 

 back home the same day, or it may re- 

 main out for two weeks. There has 

 never been a failure in the herring fish- 

 ery of Yarmouth, and the thousands of 

 persons in this quaint town who are de- 

 pendent on the herring have few of those 

 apprehensions that come to most people 



whose welfare is contingent on the uncer- 

 tain harvest of the seas. 



FIGURES SHOWING THE MAGNITUDE OF 

 THE HERRING FISHERY OF SCOTLAND 



At the present time the herring fishery 

 of Scotland exceeds in magnitude that of 

 any other country, being about 50 per 

 cent more extensive than that of Eng- 

 land, which ranks second. In 1907, 

 when the yield surpassed any previous 

 year, the catch exceeded 630,000,000 

 pounds, and the fish, if placed end to end, 

 would have extended more than 8,000 

 miles. The chief centers of the indus- 

 try are the Shetland Islands, Fraser- 

 borough, Peterhead, and Aberdeen. The 

 Scotch fishery, like the English, is under- 

 going a radical change, consisting in the 

 elimination of sailing vessels and the 

 more extensive use of steamers, which 

 are yielding a much larger proportion of 

 the catch this year. In 1907 the number 

 of steam vessels was about 500 (an in- 

 crease of 85 per cent over 1906), valued, 

 with their gear, at $6,000,000. 



The quantity of gill-netting set for her- 

 ring in the waters adjacent to the Scotch 

 coasts is almost incredible, and it is diffi- 

 cult to understand how, with the fishing 

 going on day after day for months, any 

 considerable number of fish escape. The 

 fact that the fishery has continued so 

 many years without impairment indicates 

 the wonderful prodigality and remarka- 

 ble recuperative powers of nature. The 

 gill-nets used by the Scotch in 1907 if 

 made into a band one yard wide would 

 reach three and a half times around the 

 earth and their actual area exceeded 48 

 square miles. 



The fishery is divided into three sec- 

 tions in the official reports, but these are 

 not sharply defined as at present con- 

 ducted, although doubtless quite distinct 

 originally; thus the "great summer fish- 

 ery" extends from July 1 to December 

 31, the "early summer fishery" continues 

 from April to June 30, and the "winter 

 fishery" is conducted in January, Feb- 

 ruary, and March. 



The run of herring on the coasts of 

 Scotland attracts fishermen from all over 



