37 



not get so many. The price of lobsters varies. A small 4-inch lobster will. LOBSTERS 



sometimes bring 6d., sometimes Is. 6d. ; the average price will be about 10c?. — 



Thinks that all lobsters below 4 inches in the barrel should be put back. Gauge. 



There is a greater demand for berried hens than for anything else. The berries 



are made into sauce. Is in favour of a close season in June, July, August, Close time. 



and September. Thinks that this is the principal breeding season. In 



September many of the lobsters are soft in the shell and body. These probably soft. 



have lately shed their shells and are recovering. Lobsters have been thrown 



away 50 at a time in September, because they were so soft both in shell and 



body. 



Joseph Brunton {examined by Mr. Walpole). Lives at Cullercoats. Was 

 fishing for six years before he went to sea. This was from 54 to 48 years ago. 

 Recommenced fishing in 1839, and has done so ever since. Fifty-four years ago 

 pots were not used. Nothing was used at that time but trunk nets (iron Trunks. 

 rings, 21 inches in diameter, with a net attached to them) ; these could only be 

 fished in very shallow water. Used to carry 16 to 18 trunk nets per boat, and 

 in a day would sometimes catch six or seven score crabs (30 to a score), and 

 perhaps a score of lobsters (20 full-sized lobsters to the score). In those days 

 never fished before May, and went on till July. Knocked off at that time, and 

 went to the herring fishing. After the herring season was over, in September, Herring fishing. 

 resumed the lobster fishing and went on till Christmas. After Christmas went 

 line-fishing till May. When he recommenced fishing, in 1839, the system was 

 the same as when he stopped. Four or five years afterwards pots, or creels, 

 were introduced. The fishing season now begins in the early part of April and 

 goes on till July; is resumed sometimes in September, but there is very 

 little autumn fishing. There is less fishing than there was then, but 

 there are a great many more boats. When first he went fishing there were Boats. 

 only 15 boats for all kinds of fishing out of Cullercoats ; there are now 42. 

 Crabs and lobsters are a great deal scarcer now than when he was a lad. Decrease. 

 Thinks that too many are caught. Agrees with previous witnesses. Is in 

 favour of a close season, commencing on 1st July and ending 30th September, close time. 

 Is in favour of a 4-inch gauge for crabs, and a 4-inch barrel-gauge for lobsters. Gauge. 

 Thinks that the coast-guard might enforce the close season. 



{By Mr. Buckland.) The crab pots are baited with small fish, — codlings, CRABS. 

 whiting, &c. Edible crabs are never used as bait for the lines, they are too — 



valuable. A lobster prefers a stale bait, or even salted fish ; a crab a fresh bait. Bait. 

 The pots are not shifted much, they are placed in about the same places 

 always. One fleet of pots would be 90 to 100 feet from another. There 

 are 900 to 1,000 pots altogether in 12 square miles of ground. Crabs and 

 lobsters will get out of the pots. After storms or after daylight the pots are 

 generally empty. Most of them are caught in the first of the morning before 

 the daylight comes. The guns at Tynemouth do not affect the lobsters. 



William Armstrong {examined by Mr. Buckland). A fisherman of Hawx- LOBSTERS, 

 ley. Has been fishing 50 years. Fishes off Hawxley and five miles north and 

 south, and two miles out to sea. The bottom is very rocky. There are many 

 places where there is only 7 fathom water on one side, and 15 fathom on 

 the other side of the boat. There is a great deal of weed there. In 6 or 7 

 fathom water there are weeds, but not in deeper water. The lobsters are among 

 the weeds in some places, but not always. Thinks the lobsters feed on small Food of. 

 fish, &c. among the weeds, and not on the weeds. There are 9 or 10 boats 

 fishing for crabs and lobsters at Hawxley. In the winter each boat carries 30 

 creels, in the summer they use 60 each. Will sometimes get 30 or 40 lobsters 

 in a day per boat. There are as many crabs and lobsters as there were 15 -ZVb decrease. 

 years ago. Does not think that they are diminishing in number on his ground. 

 There is a great deal of ground ; sometimes is able to shift the pots five or 

 six miles north and south. A full-size lobster is 4-*- inches in the barrel, below 

 4 inches in the barrel four lobsters go for one. Thinks it is impossible to over- 

 fish the place in the present way. Out of nine boats on the ground, only two 

 are fishing in the winter, the others are on the herring fishing. Is, however, in Close time. 

 favour of a close season, and has consulted the fishermen on the point. The 

 Hawxley fishermen would like a close season for crabs from 1st July to 31st 

 January. The lobster close season should also commence on 1st July and end 

 on 30th September. That is the time when lobsters are at their worst. Thinks 

 such a close season will improve the winter fishing. Fishes crabs and 



