THE RISE OF THE HERRING FISHERIES 115 



out for the herring fishery. Each vessel shall have on board 12 

 Winchester bushels of salt for every last of fish which such vessel is 

 capable of holding, which salt shall be barrelled up in new barrels. 

 Each vessel was required to carry two fleets of tanned nets proper 

 for the herring fishery, that is for every buss of 70 tons burthen one 

 fleet of fifty nets, each net to be 30 yd. full on the rope, and 7 

 fathoms deep ; and so in proportion for vessels of other tonnage. 

 The crew of a vessel of 20 tons were to be not less than six men, 

 and an additional man was prescribed for every 5 tons above 20. 



On the return of the vessel from the fishery, an officer of the 

 Customs was to go on board to certify the tonnage, the names of 

 the master and other persons on board, etc. The master had to 

 take oath that his vessel was at one of the places above mentioned. 

 The certificate, schedule, licence and oath, together with an account 

 of the fish caught, were then transmitted to the Commissioners 

 from that part of Great Britain whence the vessel departed, who 

 then caused payment to be made by the Receiver-General of 

 Customs of the bounty of 30s. per ton. The bounty was limited 

 to an annual payment for fourteen years from the commencement 

 of the Act. Three years later the Act was amended (by 26 Geo. II, 

 c. 9), so as to regulate the herring fishery by the calendar now in 

 use. Other modifications were introduced, the chief of which was 

 that vessels which shall rendezvous at Kirkwall in the Orkney 

 Islands by the 12th September (instead of Campbeltown), shall 

 be entitled to the bounties, if otherwise qualified. 



Several other Acts were passed having the object of improving 

 the sea fisheries, among which may be noticed 29 Geo. II, c. 23 

 (1756), by which a bounty of is. was paid for every barrel of white 

 herring of 32 gallons entered for home consumption in Scotland, 

 and 3s. 4d. per barrel for white herring brought into England from 

 Scotland. Fish cured in Scotland might be brought into England 

 for re-exportation, and the bounty was allowed on the exportation 

 of such fish to foreign parts in the terms of, and on compliance 

 with, 5 Geo. I, c. 18 (see above). 



In 1757 the bounty for the herring busses was raised from 30s. 

 to 50s. per ton, and this continued until 1771, when another Act 

 reduced the bounty from 50s. to 30s. per ton. 



The Act of 1771 remained in force until 1787, when it was replaced 

 by still another Act which provided 20s. per ton bounty for the 

 busses, with an additional bounty of 4s. per barrel of herring taken, 

 but limited to a proportion of the tonnage, so that no vessel could 

 claim more than 30s. per ton, except when the quantity of fish 

 taken was greater than three barrels per ton, in which case a bounty 

 of IS. per barrel was allowed on the surplus quantity. 



