THE TRAWLING GROUNDS 37 



Obviously the " A " areas extend in a narrow belt round the 

 coast. Of the four subdivisions the only important one is that 

 known as the eastern grounds. This area includes the waters off 

 the German and Danish coasts, and touches the important small 

 plaice grounds of the Horn Riff, Sylt, Amrum Bank and Heligoland. 

 The bottom is of fine sand, a favourite ground for young Pleuro- 

 nectids. This ground is fished for the most part in May and June, 

 and about 90 per cent of the plaice belongs to the trade category 

 of small. No less than 250 boxes of small plaice have been landed 

 by a steam trawler as the result of a single trip to these grounds. 



The " B " areas are much more important to the steam trawler. 

 There are five subdivisions in the statistical tables. Of these the 

 best known is the Dogger Bank, which has an area of 6850 sq. miles. 

 This bank is a large wedge-shaped, submerged plateau running 

 north-east and south-west. The apex known to the fishermen as 

 the tail end, lies to the north-east. The base is only 60 miles from 

 the Yorkshire coast. The tail end is separated from the rest of the 

 bank by a gutter over 40 metres deep. The slope is gentler on its 

 south-eastern side ; the northern slope is covered in summer by 

 an extraordinary quantity of " scruff," of which the chief con- 

 stituent is the " curly weed " or " curly cabbage," a fixed compound 

 gelatinous organism {Alcyonidium gelatinosum) . The bottom of 

 the Dogger, except for a few patches of rough ground, is of fine 

 sand. In the south-west the bank shallows to a depth of from 

 7 to 8 fathoms. To the fishermen the more southerly part is the inner 

 or upper part ; the more northerly the lower or outer. Thus 

 " inside the Dogger " is south-east of the Bank, " below the Dogger " 

 is the north-west slope. The Dogger abounds, or at any rate at one 

 time did abound, in haddock, cod, turbot and plaice. 



Another important " B " area (20-40 metres) is that which lies 

 between the base of the Dogger and the English coast. Here the 

 bottom is formed of a number of alternating ridges and gutters 

 running north-west and south-east in parallel lines. The ridges 

 approach to within a few fathoms of the surface, and are known 

 as the Swarte Bank, Leman Bank and Well Bank. Between these 

 ridges the bottom is composed of fine sand. Most of the northern 

 portion of the area is of rough ground with stones and gravel, in 

 which are Well Bank Rough, Well Bank Flat and the Dowsing 

 Ground. The southern portion of the area encloses parts of Hais- 

 borough Sand, Gat and Lowestoft Flats, fishing grounds much 

 frequented by the Lowestoft trawlers. Cod, haddock and plaice 

 are the characteristic fish of this area. The third " B " area lies 

 off the Dutch coast. Along its southern border are a series of 

 grounds named chiefly from the islands off which they are situated. 



