176 



NATXJBAL ENEMIES OF THE HERRING. 



ling taken in 1861, and registered by the Fishery Board, waa 

 over 80,000 cwts. On an average thirty codfish go to one ewt. 

 of dried fish. Hence, at least 2,400,000 will equal 48,000 

 fishermen. In other words, the cod and ling caught on the 

 Scotch coasts in 1861, if they had been left in the water, would 

 have caught as many herring as a number of fishermen equal to 

 all those in Scotland, and six thousand more, in the same year ; 

 and as the cod and ling caught were certainly not one tithe part 

 of those left behind, we may fairly estimate the destruction of 



MEMBERS OF THE HERRING FAMILY. 



I. Herring. z. Sprat 3. Pilchard. 



herring by these voracious fish alone as at least ten times as 

 great as that effected by all the fishermen put together." As to 

 only one of the numerous land enemies of the herring, the late Mr. 

 Wilson, in his Tomr round Scotland, calculated that the gannets 

 or solan geese frequenting one island alone — St. KUda — ^picked 

 out of the water for their food 214 millions of herrings every 

 summer ! The shoals that can withstand these destructive, 

 agencies must indeed be vast, especially when taken in con- 

 nection with the nuUions of herrings that are accidentally killed 

 by the nets, and never brought ashore for food purposes. The 



