CLAM FI8HERY OF PAS8AMAQU0DDY BAY 



37 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 22a 



to Scotland. Not to mention the demands throughout the provinces of England, there are, 

 it is stated, more than 3,000 tons per annum consumed in London alone. In 1891 on 

 the mussel beds of the Tees, eight boats were employed, where half a dozen years 

 previously there were as many as fifty. This decline was due chiefly to the deepening 

 operations of steam dredges. One man, using a rake from his boat, can procure in a 

 day of eight or nine hours one bag of two bushels, which when sold for food brings four 

 shillings. In favourable weather and a fortunate locality, a man can do much better 

 than this, but the daily average is about seven shillings. Formerly twenty bags a day 

 could be obtained by one man, and two men have been known to procure and send away 

 fifty tons in a week. In 1887 there were ninety-one tons sent by train from Stockton, 

 and 169 tons from Middleborough. This district also gives employment to fifty or sixty 

 persons engaged in gathering cockles (Cardium edule). The mussel beds of the Esk 

 employ 100 to 150 men, and those of the Humber about twelve men. 



The mussel fisheries of Scotland are of much greater magnitude. It is estimated 

 there are upwards of 20,000 tons used per annum. There are 50,000 fishermen, some 

 using mussels as bait the year round, while all do for some part of the year. The bait 

 is obtained especially from Greenock, Port Glasgow, Firth of Tay, and Firth of Forth. 

 From native waters there were in 1892 some 247,411 cwt. taken, having a value of 

 <£14,534. In 1893, the quantity taken in the Clyde alone was 96,000 cwt. — two-fifths 

 of all taken in Scotland. Bait is also obtained from Holland, Boston, Ireland, the 

 Thames and elsewhere. According to a report in 1894, there were 14,500 cwt. shell- 

 fish imported into Scottish ports, having a value of £4,000. These were chiefly mussels 

 from Holland, and were worth 5s. 6d. per cwt. 



In Scotland, as elsewhere, the broad stretch of mussel beds appeared to the early 

 fishermen to ofier inexhaustible supplies. But constant, unregulated, wasteful fishing 

 brought about a state of decadence with consequent increase in price. The amount of 

 change may be illustrated by the following statement of Mr. Johnston of Montrose : * It 

 is a fact that the Ferryden fishermen were offered the sands of Dun (north side of the 

 river Southesk) at the beginning of the century at £5 per annum, and two dozen 

 haddocks per week and one cod fish ; but bait was so cheap at that time that the fisher- 

 men did not think it worth their while to accept the ofier. These sands are now let to 

 our firm for £500 a year.' 



To the Scottish fisherman the mussel is the most important of all bait. The scal- 

 lop, ink-fish, lugworm, herring, whelk, cockle, limpet, are other common baits. The 

 number of hooks to a line varies from 500 to 1,200, according to the district. On an 

 a.verage two mussels are used to bait each hook, and to set all the lines at once it would 

 require some 100,000,000 mussels. Jurisdiction is over waters for a distance of three 

 miles (cannon shot) from the land, including bays, creeks, &c., not more than ten 

 miles across the mouth. Beyond this belt the sea is the common fishing ground of all 

 nations. Since general use of mussel beds tends to their ruination, it has become the 

 practice of the Crown to grant privileges to individuals upon conditions which are likely 

 to preserve the scalps and protect public interests. Persons trespassing are counted 

 guilty of an attempt at theft and may be fined or imprisoned, but the rights of naviga- 

 tion in public estuaries are superior to those of fishing, provided the methods are not 

 injurious to shell-fish. Depositing ballast or rubbish, placing of harmful apparatus, or 

 otherwise disturbing the beds are, except under conditions, prohibited. The public can, 

 however, fish for haddock, &c., over private mussel scalps in certain specified ways. 

 Fishery orders may be obtained from the Fishery Board in Scotland, or from the Board 

 of Trade in England for the purpose of cultivating shell-fish beds. 



LITERATURE. 



Linnaeus — Systema Naturae, XII. Ed., 1767. 

 Cuvier — The Animal Kingdom, London, 1834. 



Deshayes — Traite elementaire de Conchyliologie, 3 vol., Paris, 1839-1857. 



Brown — Illustrations of the Recent Conchology of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.> 

 by Captain Thomas Brown, Mem. Manchester Nat. His. Soc. and Curator of its 

 Museum, &c. 



