55 



boxes. There are from six to seven dozen in a tea-box. A good many of them CRABS. 



are lobsters which count two for one, either from being under 4\ inches in the 



barrel or from wanting a claw. There are plenty of crabs of a good marketable 



size caught in the lobster creels around Mull ; but they arc too far from a mar- Will not carry. 



ket, and people hereabout won't eat them. They are more delicate than 



lobsters. They won't keep good for much more than 24 hours. 



Cockburnspath, Cove, Berwickshire, Tuesday, 24tli October 



1876. 



Present : 

 Frank Buckland, Esquire. 



William Wattey, station officer at Redheugh. Along the coast in the Cove 

 district there is crab and lobster fishing. There are 21 fishing boats at Cove, Boats. 

 of which 16 are engaged in fishing for crabs and lobsters, crabs being prin- 

 cipally sought after. The fish are sent to Edinburgh, London, and Manchester. 

 Creels are used, and not nets, in the fishing. Each boat has from 80 to 100 

 creels, and the ground extends from Cove to St. Abb's Head. A good many 

 soft crabs are taken. Crabs are taken as small as three inches. Most of these 

 are cast overboard. A few are retained for bait. The price has increased. 



Thomas Fairburn. Has fished for 20 years here. The crab fishing should close iim 

 be closed from May to September. The fishing has fallen off about one third. 

 A "full " crab would be 8 or 9 inches across the back. Crabs are not used 

 for bait. Crabs of 5 inches and under go two for one in selling to the 

 merchants. Soft crabs are put back into the water. Lobsters have diminished. 

 The bottom is rocky. The fishermen begin fishing with creels on 1st October 

 and leave off 31st July. 



Been 



Coldingham Shore, Tuesday, 24th October 1876. 



Present : 

 Frank Buckland, Esquire. 



William Wilson. Has fished for crabs for 28 years out from Coldingham. 

 The bottom is mostly all sand, and 30 to 35 fathoms deep. The ground 

 extends for two square miles. Crabs this year have not been so plentiful as some 

 years, but sometimes they have been scarcer. Has fished for crabs from September 

 to June for 14 years. Ten boats from Coldingham with 36 men are engaged 

 in crab fishing. The population is 200. They fish with creels which are 

 placed 20 fathoms apart. The boats carry 730 altogether, or about 80 creels each. 

 The deep water fishing lasts from September to March. A few boats put in a 

 small number of creels in the shallow water in the end of March, but the 

 shallow water fishing generally lasts from April to end of May. The largest 

 number of crabs he ever saw in a creel was 63, and that was in 1865 ; the 

 largest number this year has been 40, counting large and small. The largest 

 was 10 inches across the back, and the smallest three inches. Within the last 

 few days many of the crabs caught have been small and soft. 



Soft crabs are mostly caught in September, October, November, and Soft 

 December. These are generally put overboard, — some into the sea, and some 

 into the harbour. As the season advances and the crabs get harder, many 

 of them are sent to the market. The markets the fishermen send to are 

 Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham, and sometimes London. Complaints 

 have been made of late about soft crabs. 



Out of one boat's catch lately of 10 barrels of crabs 6^ barrels only were 

 good. Is strongly of opinion that all the white crabs should be returned to 

 the water. Can tell white crabs by the claws being transparent, and these 



