26 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The total of boats fishing out of Yarmouth port for 1912 was 

 915 as against 882 of the previous year. The following are a few 

 interesting items connected with the fishing : — 



On Sept. 24th the steam drifter ' Sunbeam' made a remark- 

 able catch of 320,000 Herrings. The nets had been " struck " 

 by a heavy shoal. In the early morning the crew were seen by 

 those on other vessels to be hauling in an unusual number of 

 fish, some of the lighter fished boats standing by with the hope 

 of taking over such nets as could not be emptied on board the 

 ' Sunbeam.' The skipper paid no heed to them, hoping that 

 another vessel belonging to the same owner might come to his 

 help, a desire that did not prove futile. A second boat came to 

 help, and took aboard the remainder. The night's catch realized 

 6520. The first boat brought in 230,000 Herrings, the other 

 the remaining 90,000. 



Up to Oct. 19th Yarmouth's catch was 295,490,000 Her- 

 rings, as against 164,750,000 last year. Lowestoft's catch was 

 150,992,000, as against 61,892,000 last year. By breakfast- 

 time on one day that week a Lowestoft boat had cleared out her 

 night's catch of 60,000 Herrings ; she had cleaned up and got 

 out again, and was back once more by tea-time with another 

 great catch of 80,000 fish. 



A feature of the fishing has been the freedom with which 

 Herrings have been " struck " in the daytime. 



It has been estimated by a local fish-merchant, fully com- 

 petent to form an opinion, that the pilfering of Herrings by boys 

 and even girls, mostly after school hours, had amounted in one 

 busy week to the astonishing value of i'100. 



A great hue and cry has been raised against the use of the 

 trawl for catching Herrings in the North Sea, and strong protests 

 have been made by Scotch and English fish-merchants, who see 

 in its continued operations disaster looming ahead. On Oct. 

 19th a huge protest meeting was held in Yarmouth Town Hall, 

 when no fewer than nine Members of Parliament, twelve mayors 

 and provosts of towns largely interested in the fishing industry 

 were present. This meeting was promptly followed by a deputa- 

 tion, headed by Mr. Arthur Fell, member for the borough, which 

 waited upon the President of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries, and the Vice-President of the Irish Board of 



