METHODS OF FISHING I3 



meshed in it. (3) The third method involves the use of baited 

 hooks attached to lines. Although there are other methods of 

 fishing for sea fish, e.g. trammel-nets, stake-nets, they are negli- 

 gible as a means of supplying the great fish markets of these islands. 

 Consequently fishermen may be divided into trawlers, drifters and 

 liners, and since the interests of these three classes is to a great 

 extent opposed, it is found that the history of the sea fisheries 

 records a good deal of friction between the various groups, and this 

 has not been without effect on legislation. Not so very long ago 

 the fisherman of our coasts did not devote himself exclusively to 

 any one branch of his calling, but the coming of steam and the 

 capitalist changed things in a remarkable manner. The village 

 fishermen, a favourite theme with poets and artists, who for the 

 most part owned their own fishing craft and who fished in the 

 immediate proximity of their native place, are rapidly disappearing. 

 In their place we have the paid " hands "^ forming the crew of 

 the steamer owned by the limited Uability company. This deck- 

 hand or " decide," with his incongruous attire, the most conspicuous 

 items of which are a " bowler " hat and clogs, has usually no more 

 seamanship than a cowboy. No painter has yet limned his features, 

 and it would need a resuscitation of Pietro Aretino to reproduce 

 his language in its comprehensive lewdness. 



In 1885 the bulk of the fish consumed in the British Isles or 

 exported from our shores was caught either in the North Sea or in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of our coasts by sailing vessels, and 

 by men who owned or had a pecuniary interest in the vessels they 

 maimed. These men followed various branches of fishing. Since 

 1885 the gradual ousting of sail by steam has taken place, and 

 simultaneously the area of exploitation has been considerably 

 extended. As Prof. D'Arcy Thompson* puts it, " The industry as 

 a whole tends towards concentration, to the use of larger boats, to 

 the need of greater harbours ; tends, in the case of line and trawl 

 fishing, to gravitate towards the great centres of population and the 

 great highways of traffic." One of the results is that nowadays 

 sea fishing is a highly technical occupation, so much so that a fisher- 

 man is usually only acquainted with one method of fishing and often 

 with only a particular part of that method. On modern steam 

 fishing vessels it frequently happens that the master alone knows 

 how to navigate the ship and to manipulate the gear — ^the " hands " 



* Not infrequently a 'nigger,' 'Dutchman,' or 'Dago.' Witness the con- 

 sternation in steam trawling circles (December, 1914) caused by Admiralty order 

 forbidding employment of aliens on British fishing vessels. 



' Paper read before the Royal Institution of Great Britain by Professor D'Arcy 

 W. Thompson, c.b., m.a., " The North Sea and its Fisheries," March 22nd, 1912, 

 p. 12. 



