FISH AND FISHERIES OF EAST SUFFOLK. 



375 



£14,000 was realized by owners and men in the fisheries off the 

 Suffolk coast on that one day. 



Nall, ;: writing in 1866, states that " the Lowestoft catch a few 

 years ago averaged about fifty lasts annually ; latterly, from the 

 unprofitable results of the venture, fewer boats have been engaged 

 in it, the fishermen prosecuting in preference the spring and 

 summer Herring fishery." At the time of writing he averred 

 that the " Mackerel fare-ing " had almost died out. On his 

 authority it may be stated that in 1854 twenty boats were 

 engaged, earning £3460 ; 1855, six boats, earning £930 ; 1858, 

 ten boats, earning £710 ; 1862, three boats, earning £27. 



In those days the East Coast Mackerel were brought to the 

 beach, a practice which was followed, I believe, at both ports until 

 recent years ; they were sold by private contract and by public 

 auction. The markets for the fish were London and the principal 

 towns in East Anglia. To London consignments were de- 

 spatched in fast-sailing cutters then employed by the London fish- 

 mongers. The introduction of railways and preservation by 

 means of ice have tended to a wider transportation, and to more 

 regular prices. The highest price on record for Mackerel 

 occurred in May, 1807, when the first boat-load from Brighton 

 realized forty guineas per hundred of six score — seven shillings 

 each ! In the following year Mackerel struck the neighbour- 

 hood of Dover so plentifully that they were sold at sixty for a 

 shilling. 



Frank Buckland brings down the history of the " Fare-ing " 

 to a more recent date. " In former years," he says, " Mackerel 

 realized a large price ; now the merchants have to compete with 

 very fine fish caught off the Irish coast, . . . and also with 

 immense numbers from Norway. These are packed in ice." . . . 

 Similar conditions prevail to-day, and it is a curious fact that, 

 for a number of years following Buckland's inquiries, the local 

 fishery was hardly worth pursuing, the Mackerel changing their 

 immigration until the time of the autumnal Herring-fishing, 

 when on some occasions they became so abundant that several 

 Yarmouth and Lowestoft boats changed their Herring-nets for 

 Mackerel-nets. 



* ' Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft,' by John Greaves Nail. 



