244 FISH CULTURE. 



not be a marvel of marvels if there be any herrings 

 left in a few years' time ? 



A commission was appointed to inquire into this 

 special subject. The conclusions come to by this 

 commission were singular. It recommended that 

 close-time should be abolished, in order that fisher- 

 men might supply themselves with bait, and that 

 trawling^ should be legalized, because it benefited 

 the public. Now, a very moderate supply of her- 

 'rings would answer for all bait purposes, and some 

 measure very far short of the actual abolition of 

 close-time might surely have been recommended. 

 Again, trawling is carried on in small in-shore row- 

 boats, and can be foUpwed by tinkers and tailors, 

 and anything, indeed, but sailors. It throws large 

 gluts upon the markets at times, but to counter- 

 balance this, if trawling were the only means of 

 supply, we should either be overdone with herrings 

 or have none. If trawling be legalized, the drift- 

 fishing, which always ensures a steady, regular, and 

 ample supply, must die out before it, because during 

 one-half of their season they must fish at a loss. 



' This kind of trawling should be called "seining," to distinguish 

 it from trawling proper, or beam-trawling, as it is now termed. 

 There is no similarity whatever in the two processes. The net 

 used is not a trawl, but a sein. 



