THE RISE OF THE HERRING FISHERIES 125 



herrings ; the fish were in many cases thrown promiscuously into 

 the barrels, without attention being paid to the regular packing of 

 them ; there was no regulation as to the size of the meshes of the 

 nets, and, indeed, the use of small-meshed nets may be said to have 

 been general, so that while the small fish were taken, the large 

 ones escaped ; the nets were never shaken at sea, by which the 

 quality of the fish was much injured ; and the boats, with few 

 exceptions, were small in size, ill-provided with fishing materials, 

 seldom cleaned or furnished with flooring boards or pumps, and the 

 fishermen rarely ventured in them above two or three miles from 

 the shore." 



After only nineteen years of the bounty system, as set forth in 

 the Act of 1808, the Scottish herring fisheries were worked on the 

 following lines : — 



" The barrels are uniformly of the full legal size, and made in a 

 most substantial and workmanlike manner, the staves J in. thick 

 throughout, of made work, the number of the hoops and the mode 

 of fastening them fixed by regulations, and the tightness of the 

 cask secured by the insertion of flags at the seams of the head and 

 bottom ends. The herrings, as soon as they are brought on shore, 

 are deposited in gutting-boxes, covered with shades, to protect 

 them from the sun and the injuries of the weather, are seldom 

 cured ungutted or in bulk, except when intended to be made into 

 red herrings, and such of them as are intended for bounty are 

 gutted with a knife, and regularly packed into barrels with a small 

 portion of salt strewn between each layer, within twenty-four 

 hours after they are caught, and those intended for exportation, 

 cured in such a manner as to suit the market for which they are 

 destined. The minimum weight of fish in each barrel is fixed by 

 law, the barrels fiUed with pickle and every means taken to retain 

 it, and as a security to the public, and a check on fraud and negli- 

 gence, there is marked on each barrel the day on which the fish were 

 cured, the curer's name and place of residence, and the name of 

 the officer of the fishery by whom they were branded for bounty. 

 The nets in general use measure i in. in the mesh, so that the fry 

 is preserved, while full-sized fish only are taken. That the fishermen 

 shake their nets at sea whenever the weather will admit of it. The 

 small boats have been replaced by others of a superior description, 

 averaging from 15 to 20 tons, each well furnished with oars, sails, 

 anchors, nets, buoys, pumps and flooring boards, are washed out 

 from time to time to keep them sweet and clean, and the men 

 boldly proceed in them to sea till out of sight of land ; and that 

 while sixty or eighty crans of fish in the season were formerly 

 reckoned a fair fishing per boat, the boats on the east coast, where 



