FISH-NOTES FROM GREAT YARMOUTH. 449 
the enmeshed Herrings as they proceed; but almost every fish 
in a Mackerel-net has to be taken out by hand. But, aye! what 
a bonnie sight is a cargo of freshly captured Scomber, glistening 
as they do with iridescent tints, to describe which the names 
from a colour-box are utterly insufficient to convey any idea. In 
some cases the Mackerel had ‘‘ struck”’ so thickly that sections 
of net were “‘ grounded,” or sunk to the bottom. 
A Scotch boat, having been out but a short time, put into 
Lowestoft on the evening of Nov. 12th with thirty crans of Her- 
rings (nearly forty thousand fish), which had been transferred to 
her at sea from the Banff drifter ‘ Violet,’ the latter having made a 
haul which she could not safely carry ; she had on board herself 
no fewer than two hundred crans (two hundred and sixty-six 
thousand six hundred Herrings!). 
I have to record, as usual, the fact that no Cetaceans, to my 
knowledge, have been brought into port during the present 
Herring fishery. I understand that Porpoises and other ‘large 
fishes ’”’ have been seen on the fishing-grounds, and it is evident 
that some Porpoises at least have come to grief and been drowned 
- in the Herring-nets, but as no value attaches to Cetaceans or 
Sharks nowadays, either for economic or curious purposes, they 
are invariably thrown back into the sea. At one time Sharks of 
any size were eagerly snapped up by showmen, but since the 
various markets in the county have been closed to promiscuous 
show-work, and sanitary officials have more sense (?) than sen- 
timent, they, too, place stumbling-blocks in the way of exhibi- 
tion: so that the pseudo-fisherman who erstwhile used to dilate 
upon these “‘ terrors of the mighty deep,” and the ‘‘ pounds and 
pounds worth of damage done to the poor fishermen’s nets, for 
whose benefit they were travelling,” has become a creature of the 
past. Time was, some forty years ago, when Porpoises fetched 
as much as five shillings apiece for the sake of their skins, which 
were much used at that time for water-boots, and for the oil 
extracted from their fat. Our local tanneries are also entirely 
obsolete. Two Porpoises, in a forward state of decomposition, 
were washed ashore during the easterly winds prevailing during ~ 
the first week in November. The Gulls seemed to have been 
very busy upon these carcases before they had washed ashore. 
