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MR. G. II. HARRIS ON THE HERRING FISHERY. 
X. 
NOTES ON THE HERRING FISHERY OF 1897. 
By G. H. Harris. 
Read 29th March, 1898. 
In the year 1896 the Herring Fishery in the ports of Yarmouth 
and Lowestoft had to lament large catches with low prices ; there 
was an abundance both of fish and fine weather, which kept the 
market, more or less, “glutted.” There had been no scarcity 
during the earlier part of the year, nor was there any unusual 
demand during the Autumn months, with the result that the worst 
effect of a “glut” in forcing the price of Herring down below 
profit-bearing value was felt in all its severity. The year 1897 has 
also been remarkable for large catches, and, if we except a heavy 
gale at the end of November, the weather was propitious for the 
following of the industry. “ Gluts ” were again, therefore, frequent. 
And not only were they frequent, but they were enormous, in so 
far that the catch of 1897 exceeding that of 1896 by 9094 lasts, 
or by 33 per cent., comes within a trifle of a few hundred lasts of 
being a record catch. But this result was, as we shall see in the 
sequel, due not so much to phenomenal shoals of Herring, as it was 
to an increase in the number of boats fishing from the two ports. 
And the Autumn fishing has to take all the credit ; for the Spring 
and Midsummer fishings had fallen short by 1288 lasts of the 
catch of the previous year. This early deficiency is noteworthy as 
it points the reason why, while the prices of 1896 were not able to 
stand against the glut of that year, the prices, of 1897 did stand. 
There was, in fact, a great deficiency of Herring, not only in the 
comparatively unimportant Spring and Summer fishings of these 
two East Coast ports, but also in the great North Sea fishing which 
precedes that of the East Coast. So the Autumn fishing started 
with a call for fish which was of good omen. But the fish did not 
come till the second week in October, when some remarkable catches 
were made. And here it may be more curious than useful to note 
that old fishermen, remembering that Mackerel had been unusually 
plentiful during the Summer, shook their heads over the prospect of 
the Herring fishing, saying that a plenty of Mackerel had always 
meant a scant of Herring, and that, in their opinion, the fishing 
would be a poor one — a prediction which, as October wore on, 
proved a false one; although in these months when supplies were 
so exceptionally short it did meet with somo justification. 
