224 STATEMENTS BY TEAWLEES. 



The beam-trawKng commenced about six years ago. The 

 number of boats and the fishing population stiE go on steadUy 

 increasing. Beam-trawling does two kinds of harm : in the first 

 place, it sweeps away the fishermen's lines ; and next, it destroys 

 the spawn. " There may be a remedy for a fisherman losing his 

 lines, but I never heard of it. I am aware that they could 

 recover damages, but the difficulty is to get hold of the offending 

 parties. The only remedy I can suggest is to do away with the 

 trawl-fishing altogether." This witness stated that ten years ago 

 he used to take sixty or seventy codfish per day, and that now 

 he cannot get one. The trawlers, being able to fish in all 

 weathers, beat the local fishermen out of the field. 



Templeman, a South Shields fisherman, says that when en- 

 gaged in trawling he has drawn up three and a half tons of fish- 

 spawn ! He also says in his evidence that in trawling one-half 

 of the fish are dead, and so hashed as to be unfit for market. 

 Has seen a ton and a half of herring-spawn offered for sale as 

 manure. The take of fish upon the Dogger Bank has decreased 

 very much. The fishermen cannot catch one quarter part there 

 now that they used to do. The number of trawl-boats on the 

 Dogger Bank has increased about 10 per cent within the last 

 year, and yet they are getting about a quarter less fish. Some 

 of them can scarcely make a living now at all. They have, im- 

 poverished all other places, and now they have come here, and 

 in a short time there will not be a fish left. It is the same with 

 the other fish-banks, and that accounts for the trawlers now 

 coming to this neighbourhood. They have destroyed the Har- 

 tlepool and Sunderland ground, and now they have come to a 

 small patch off here, and they will sweep it clean too. A trawl- 

 boat wiU sometimes catch five tons a day ; but on the average 

 a ton and a half; but as a great deal of that has to be thrown 

 overboard, they only bring about ten cwt. to market. The 

 boats belonging to Cullercoats, carrying the same number of 

 hands as the trawlers, only catch upon the average about five_ 

 stones. The fish caught in the trawl are not fit for the market," 

 as the insides are broke, and the gaUs burst and running through 

 them. " If I had my way, I would pass an Act of Parliament 

 to do away with trawling, and oblige every man to fish with 

 hooks and lines. I think that would increase the quantity of 

 fish for the country, because the young fish would not take the 

 hooks. I am not aware that if the small boats get five stones 

 a day it would at all diminish the supply of fish for the market ; 

 but if the trawling is allowed to continue, that very soon will." 



