FISH AND FISHERIES OF EAST SUFFOLK. 371 



less, differing in quality from its successor, the midsummer 

 Herring, which waxes fat on Opossum Shrimps, Gammariihe, 

 and other small crustaceans and copepods that abound in the 

 North Sea during the warmer months.* The Herring then 



Herrings caught at Lowestoft. 



Year. 



Spring 

 Herrings. 



Midsummer 

 Herrings. 



Autumnal 

 Herrings. 





Lasts. 



Lasts. 



Lasts. 



1860 



1,521 



304 



2,645 



1861 



793 



261 



3,613 



1862 



538 



75 



5,711 



1863 



1,044 



17 



5,226 



1864 



1,634 



38 



4,675 



1873 



1,887 



54 



10,973 



1874 



2,546 



112 



9,173 



1875 



1,064 



106 











[Then not yet 









begun.] 



makes the fattest and tastiest of bloaters, and are of a far more 

 exquisite flavour than the fuller-roed and milted fishes of the late 

 autumn. 



In more recent times the number of boats has been hugely 

 augmented, and the catches of correspondingly vaster propor- 

 tions. In 1904 the total number of lasts taken during the 

 twelve months was 27,174, as against Yarmouth's 40,091. The 

 boats then fishing out of Lowestoft Harbour numbered 232 local 

 vessels and 291 Scotch boats. In 1907 a further increase was 

 noted ; Yarmouth, with 220 local and 720 Scotch and other 

 boats, captured 52,122 lasts, whilst Lowestoft reaped a very 

 satisfactory harvest of 39,197 lasts (13,200 Herrings to the last), 

 as the " take" of 251 Lowestoft boats and 413 Scotch and other 

 vessels employed. It may be interesting to append the follow- 

 ing returns of the separate months, which cover the spring, 

 midsummer, and autumnal voyages. These and the return for 

 1908 are from Mr. T. J. Wigg's paper on the " Herring Fishery " 



* From the stomach of a six-inch Herring, on April 13th, 1890, I took 

 one hundred and forty-three Opossum Shrimps. 



