A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



varying according tn the season. Their object 

 is to minimize the capture of small fish as far 

 as possible. Shrimp trawling is also restricted in 

 that a mesh of J in. from knot to knot is obli- 

 gatory. The meshes of other nets employed for 

 capturing sea fishes are also restricted ; thus 

 mackerel, herring, sparling, and garfish nets are also 

 restricted to a diameter of I in. from knot to knot. 



Cockles and mussels are also the subject ot 

 numerous regulations. For a part of the year 

 the fishery for the latter is ' closed,' the ' close 

 season ' being designed to cover the period during 

 which the animals are spawning. There is, 

 however, no close season for cockles. Minimum 

 size limits exist for both these molluscs, that for 

 the mussel being 2 in. in total length, and that 

 for the cockle being ^fths of an inch in 

 breadth. In each case there are also regulations 

 in force which govern the sizes of the instru- 

 ments which may be used for the capture of 

 these animals. There is also a size limit of 

 2^ in. in diameter for oysters. 



Crabs and lobsters must not be taken if they 

 are ' berried,' that is, if they are females carrying 

 spawn ; and crabs must not be taken if they 

 are less than 5 in. in breadth, nor lobsters if they 

 are less than 9 in. in total length. 



Stake-nets are nets which are set on the shore 

 at low water and which are supported on stakes 

 driven vertically into the sands. These must 

 have meshes of not less than if in. from knot to 

 knot, and they must not be more than 300 yds. 

 in total length. 



The committee have power to prevent the 

 deposit of sewage and other noxious matters in 

 the sea or on the foreshore. But in consequence 

 of the saving clauses in the Public Health and 

 the Sea-Fisheries Acts this provision is of little 

 practical use. This is a. matter on which 

 legislation has frequently been sought by the sea- 

 fisheries committees, but without any success so 

 far. Meanwhile the question of the pollution 

 of the fisheries is becoming a serious one, not 

 only from the point of view of the public health 

 but also from the standpoint of the fisherman, for 

 it is probably the case that the growing pollution 

 of the shellfish beds is having a prejudicial effect 

 on the sale of this class of fish. 



Some curious questions arise in consequence 

 of the shrimping by-laws. At present a fisherman 

 is not allowed to take whatever he catches in his 

 shrimp net. If he can prove that he is bona-fide 

 fishing for shrimps he may take soles and plaice 

 (and other flat-fish which he may catch in his 

 net) provided they are over 8 in. in length. By 

 ' bona-fide ' fishing is meant the capture of a 

 reasonable quantity of shrimps such as to justify 

 the employment of the shrimp net. The by- 

 law in question is designed to prevent the 

 employment of the narrow-meshed shrimp net 

 for the capture of small fish — such use of the 

 shrimp-net being calculated to destroy a great 



number of small fish which are much too small 

 to yield a reasonable profit to the fisherman, and 

 which nevertheless being destroyed do much 

 harm to the fish supply of the grounds. 



These by-laws only operate in the case of 

 commercial fishing. In the case of fishing for 

 scientific investigation the restrictions I have 

 mentioned do not apply ; but such use of 

 apparatus which would in other circumstances be 

 illegal must be authorized by the clerk of the 

 committee. 



Another aspect of the work of the Lancashire 

 Sea-Fisheries Committee deserves some mention, 

 viz., the instruction of fishermen in the rudi- 

 ments of natural history so far as this relates to 

 the life-histories of the common animals which 

 they catch in the course of their employment. 

 For the last five years the committee have carried 

 on courses of lessons at their marine laboratory 

 at Piel, in the Barrow Channel, for the benefit of 

 the fishermen of Lancashire. The inception of 

 this eminently useful scheme of work was due to 

 Mr. John Fell, who was the first chairman of 

 the committee, and to the late Mr. R. A. Daw- 

 son, who was for fourteen years superintendent. 

 The committee have no funds with which to 

 carry on this work, and the fishermen's classes 

 which are now being carried on are only made 

 possible by the co-operation of the education 

 committee of the Lancashire County Council. 

 Every year a sum ofj^250 is granted by this 

 body, and the greater portion of this sum is spent 

 on providing ' Fishery Exhibitions ' of the value 

 of ;^5 each, a certain number of which are 

 awarded to the various fishing centres in the 

 administrative county of Lancaster. From each 

 port or centre a number of fishermen are selected 

 and are given ^^5 each. The men are selected 

 in various ways, chiefly by the local associations 

 of fishermen or by the local representatives of 

 the centres on the committee. These men are 

 then made up into classes of fifteen each, and 

 attend at the Laboratory at Piel for a fortnight, 

 the grant of money being designed to pay their 

 expenses and to re-imburse them for the loss of 

 their employment. The course of lessons is a 

 purely scientific one, no attempt being made to 

 deal with what may be called ' technical educa- 

 tion ' in the strict sense of the word. The Piel 

 Laboratory has been fitted up with all that is 

 necessary for the study of the life-history of the 

 common marine organisms — tanks, aquaria, 

 working benches, microscopes, and other scientific 

 apparatus ; and the material necessary for study 

 is obtained by the committee's steamer. The 

 course of study embraces the life-history of the 

 mussel, cockle, oyster, haddock, plaice, skate, and 

 other marine animals which are familiar to the 

 fishermen of the district. Attention is also paid 

 to the facts of chemistry, physics, and oceano- 

 graphy, which are necessary to a proper under- 

 standing of the problems of life in the sea. The 



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