56 



CRABS. 



Soft. 



Used for bait. 



Gauge. 



time. 



Spawning. 

 LOBSTERS. 



CRABS. 



Enemies of. 



LOBSTERS. 



No decrease. 

 Gauge. 



CRABS. 



Soft- 

 Decrease. 



Gauge. 

 Close time. 



should be returned to the water with as little injury as possible. By killing 

 these crabs large numbers of useless crabs are destroyed that would presently 

 be valuable. Has to pay for the carriage of crabs. Gets from 20s. to 22s. a 

 barrel for good fish ; but if a barrel contains many white crabs the merchant 

 reduces the price. There should be a positive law prohibiting the destruction 

 of white crabs either by sending them to market or using them for bait. Very 

 few white crabs are used for bait in Coldingham. Mussels and limpets are 

 got for bait from Boston Deeps. The small crabs should be returned to the 

 water; none under 4 inches should be retained. Big crabs bring more money 

 per barrel than small crabs, but in the spring the small ones are the sweetest. 

 A "full crab" would be 9| to 10 inches; sometimes crabs of 7 inches 

 are called full crabs. The fishermen here market all crabs themselves ; they 

 have no agents. The salesmen do not complain of the small size of the crabs. 

 No crab under 4 inches should be taken. A large crab is called a "pod," a 

 small one a " partan." The fishermen generally put back all crabs under 

 4 inches of their own accord, and do not put them in the barrels. 



There should be no close time for good crabs at all, but there should be a 

 close time for white crabs, and small crabs under 4 inches, all the year round. 

 Seldom gets any female crabs at all, because when they commence to spawn 

 they are sanded up. At the end of October the crabs commence to sand up 

 in about 30 fathoms, and remain there until the spring, when they hatch the 

 young from the eggs. The smallest crabs he ever saw were in May and June. 

 These were Zoea. The spawn is beginning to come on to the tail now 

 (October). As to lobsters sometimes as many as one to the creel are caught, 

 sometimes in 40 creels there are only 17 lobsters. Seasons vary. Lobsters 

 under \\ inches in the barrel are worth little, for they are sold by the weight. 

 The average size of lobsters is 6 inches ; the merchants' gauge used to be 

 4| inches in the barrel. Off the two miles square which are fished outside 

 Coldingham, between 2,000 and 3,000 barrels of crabs have been caught and 

 sent to the market every year for 10 years. When the crabs go to the deep 

 water, the fishermen follow them. The enemies of the crabs are skate, codling, 

 whiting, and haddocks. 



There are still plenty of crabs ; about as many are caught now as were taken 

 10 years ago. 



Never fishes for crabs with nets. 



John Ray. Has been fishing for lobsters for 55 years, winter and summer. 

 There are as many lobsters now as there were years ago, but there are fewer 

 crabs. Would throw back all lobsters under 4| inches in the barrel. Berried 

 hens are found all the year round, and are the most valuable. Lobsters are all 

 sent away alive from here, and tied, not plugged. All white and small crabs 

 should be put back to the water. 



John Purvis, fish curer. Has been 20 years in Coldingham. Crabs have 

 fallen off about a third. Cannot tell the cause. Agrees that white and small 

 crabs should be returned to the water, but does not approve of a close time. 

 Considers a 5-inch crab a full one. 



The gauge should be not less than 4 inches. 



William Wilson {recalled). Is well acquainted with the neighbouring 

 village of Eyemouth. Has met with and consulted with several fishermen of 

 that place. They are all of the same opinion as the Coldingham fishermen. 

 They do not think there is any need of a close time at Eyemouth for good 

 crabs, as they are still plentiful, but they much wish to have a law to prevent 

 the destruction of small and white crabs, either sending them to market or for 

 any other purpose. The reasons they have for objecting to a close time are 

 that there are a great many old men who are unfit to go to other fisheries. 

 Boys also may have a widowed mother, and, it may be, a few younger members 

 of a family dependent on them for their living. A close time for three or six 

 months in the year would throw many of these sort of people out of work and 

 tend to burden the rates ; another reason is that a close time would have a 

 tendency to drive all the able-bodied men out of the trade of crab fishing ; 

 should the fishery be closed for three or six months as some would wish, all 

 that were able would have to take themselves to other fisheries that could not 

 be dropped when the crab fisheries opened. For this reason crab fishery 

 would be left entirely to old men and boys that are not fit to prosecute it to 

 the extent that it should be, and the markets would be worse supplied. There 



