54 THE SEA FISHERIES 



process, and in addition to the eggs, large numbers of young and 

 immature herring are destroyed. Specific instances of destruction 

 have been frequently quoted by the drifters, e.g. of a trawler 

 landing 26 boxes of small herring and 14 boxes of large, and during 

 the same voyage throwing over the side 50 boxes of herring too 

 small to be marketable. It is freely stated by the drifters that 

 their own nets being of uniform mesh, which in the case of the 

 steam drifter are thirty to thirty-one meshes to the yard of very 

 fine cotton (36/9 ply), and only designed to catch an adult herring, 

 do not cause destruction of this kind, and to this fact is attributed 

 the success which has hitherto attended this method of fishing. 

 The drifters' nets fish the intermediate layers of water, and conse- 

 quently do not disturb the herring shoals when they are on the 

 bottom, and in the act of spawning. Drift net fishing has gone on 

 for centuries, and it is claimed that Yarmouth has records of this 

 method dated 900 years ago. Another accusation made by the 

 drifter is that trawl^caught herring is of inferior quality, and in- 

 capable of being salted properly. It is alleged that in August, 

 1913, at Grimsby huge catches of trawled herring were sold at 5s. 

 per cran, whereas herring landed by steam drifters the same day 

 at the same place realised 42s. per cran. One thiag is certain, 

 trawled herring lose their scales in the rough handling they get, 

 and therefore are not of such attractive appearance as those caught 

 by the drifters. Whether they also undergo deterioration in flavour 

 is necessarily largely a matter of opinion. 



In 1913, probably as a result of the agitation initiated by the 

 Yarmouth Conference, when a " National Herring Fisheries Protec- 

 tion Association " was founded, the Prime Minister appointed a 

 Committee to inquire into the whole question. 



An international conference of representatives of the herring 

 drifting interests was held in London in 1914 (January), at which 

 delegates from English, Scottish, Dutch, German, French and 

 Russian herring fishing societies attended. A large number of 

 complaints were heard, similar to those put forward at Yarmouth 

 the previous year. It was decided to arrange for international 

 action for the protection of the herring fisheries, but any slight 

 measure of success likely to result from the efforts of the drifters, 

 was naturally ended at the outbreak of war.^ 



1 For fuller information see A. Cligny, " Le Chalutage du Hareng," Annates de la 

 Station Aqricole de Boulogne-sw-Mer, Nouvelle S6ne, Vol. Ill, 1914. P- 29- 



