540 
with 236 lasts in 1881 ; but the Lowestoft boats fill up the time 
from March till the end of May, when the Mackerel season com- 
mences, in fishing for Herring. The spring of 1882 produced 
1793 lasts against 2797 lasts in 1881 ; the prices too, as a rule, 
were very low, in some instances as low as 4d. per 132, and 
repeatedly not more than 7d. or 9d,, whilst 2s. 6d. per 132 appears 
to have been considered a good price. In the spring of 1881 prices 
ruled much higher, 12s. to 18s., and in one instance 19s. per long 
hundred having been given. One of the reasons assigned for the 
low prices is that very few French boats were fishing for Cod, and, 
therefore, the demand for Herrings for bait was much less than 
usual ; a reason very significant of the value of these spring fish. 
Upon the whole the LoAvestoft spring voyage may be considered to 
have been very unsatisfactory, many of the boats having scarcely 
paid their expenses. 
It will be seen from the table below that Herrings are present in 
the North Sea during the whole year; and although at all times 
more or less gregarious, it is only during the spawning season that 
they congregate in the vast shoals which frequent the shallow 
waters around our coast ; the so-called “ migration ” being simply 
the gathering together, for the purpose of reproduction, of the 
scattered parties Avhich, although at greater distances from the shore, 
and in greater depths of Avater, are still permanent inhabitants of 
the sea. 
During the months of June and July a fcAv fish are taken, and a 
larger quantity in August ; but it is not till September that the 
autumn fishery commences in earnest. From that time to the end of 
the year the boats are busily occupied, and the fish-wharves exhibit 
an animated scene. There Avere about 50 more Yarmouth boats 
engaged this year than in 1881, and about 200 Scotch boats also 
used the port. Very large deliveries Avere made early in the season, 
and at one time the Yarmouth delivery reached about 5000 lasts in 
excess of the same period of the previous year ; but a succession of 
heavy gales, toAvards the end of the season, reduced this excess to 
about 450 lasts; whereas, the LoAvestoft men, Avho seem to liaAm lost 
all spirit toAvards the end of the season, and Avero making very small 
catches at a time Avhen the Yarmouth men Avcre doing avcII, ended 
Avith a deficiency as compared Avith last year of some 2346 lasts 
(representing, at £15 per last, a money value of £35,490), not to 
