MR. T. J. WIGG ON THE HERRING FISHERY. 
359 
three Porpoises (Phoccena communis) to ray knowledge having 
been brought to the Fish Wharf, early in the season. Sharks have 
been altogether absent, and remarkably few Piked Dogfishes 
( Acanthi as vulgaris ) have been netted. In the case of the larger 
enemies of Clupea harengus, I ain half inclined to think the great 
number of Steam Drifters employed this year has had the elfect of 
frightening them away from the shoals by their noisy bustling 
methods of work. Herrings have been numerous enough in all 
conscience, but singularly free from other interloping pelagic fishes, 
e.g., Cods, Mackerel, Whitings, and the like, to account for the 
disappearance of which it is difficult to hazard an opinion. I only 
know of two or three large Codfishes being brought in by Scotch 
fishermen, who in some years have caught hundreds of superb fish 
by means of long lines thrown out while the nets have been 
drifting. In some years, too, Whitings have been exceedingly 
abundant, mixed in with the Herring shoals; the fisher-folk do 
not want them, and I have heard an opinion expressed that “a maund 
of Whitings to ten last of fish is not a very troublesome addition;” 
and again, “the more Mackerel caught the less Herrings taken,” — 
a fairly obvious truism, when we recollect that Mackerel rise in 
breezy weather, and Herrings do not. On the other hand, the 
shoals of Whiting inshored in unusual numbers, to the great 
delight of many local sea-anglers. 
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