SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. YAY 
REGULATIONS AND METHODS oF FISHING. 
The Bye-laws of the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Com- 
mittee are directed towards the regulation of the cockle 
fishery in accordance with local conditions in various parts 
of the district, and the methods of fishing vary, to some 
extent, in the three principal divisions. Over all the . 
district the ‘“‘craam’”’ may be used, but it is employed 
chiefly in the Duddon and Morecambe Bay areas. The 
‘“‘craam’’ is a metal three-pronged fork, fixed on a handle 
of about 18 inches in length. The prongs are about six 
inches in length, and about two inches of the extremity of 
each is bent downwards at a right angle. The cockler 
pushes a fish basket along the sand in his left hand, and 
scoops the cockles, one by one, out of the sand into the 
basket, with the ‘“‘craam.’’ Often the tuft of Algze on the 
shell of the cockle indicates its presence in the sand, but, as 
a rule, they are so abundant that the ‘ 
into the sand brings up a cockle. Over the whole district 
the ‘“‘ Jumbo” may be used, but only from November to 
‘craam’”’ plunged 
February, both months included. Fishing by means of 
the “‘Jumbo”’ is an extension of the method of treading 
on the sand with heavy boots, in which process the cockles 
are forced up to the surface and are then gathered. The 
“Jumbo” is a wooden frame, with a base consisting of a 
board, the maximum dimensions of which are 44 feet in 
length, 14 inches in width, and 1 inch thick. The frame, 
with this base-board resting on the sand, is rocked back- 
wards and forwards, with the result that the cockles are 
forced out of the sand on to the surface, and are then 
gathered up. 
Special regulations apply to the central and southern 
parts of the district: in the part of the Central Division 
lying between Formby Point and the Gut Channel in the 
Ribble, the use of a spade is permitted. The spade is 
