31 
wherever the mussels settle, they are all stripped off directly the 
animals are large enough for bait. Besides this there was a 
constant trampling down and crushing of the spat on the bed. 
Professor Meek, in 1898, regarded the experiment ( i.e ., the laying 
down of the mussel bed) as useless, owing to the improvidence of 
the fishermen. Professor Gregg Wilson, who visited the beds in 
1893, mentions Blyth as admirably suited for the growth of mussels, 
and thought what it most needed was supervision.! I note that in 
1901 the local fishermen obtained good supplies of mussels from 
the piers at Blyth Harbour. Along the river hank, below the 
timbers of the piers, particularly on the left bank, there are many 
spots which would be most convenient for mussel planting. These 
are well sheltered slopes, the ground is mud and stones, and the 
tide covers most of it for several hours each day. If this ground 
could be protected, there seems no reason why mussels should not 
be planted, but under the present conditions it would be merely 
wasted labour. 
AMBLE (she Map II.). — The mussels of Amble, or Warkwortli 
Harbour, are chiefly on the beach, to the right of the mouth of the 
River Coquet, where fresh water as well as the sea reaches them. 
They also grow on the actual river banks, where experiments in 
mussel planting are being carried on. The most important of 
these experimental scaups is on the left bank of the river, near the 
sea, between the stones below and on the south side of the North 
Pier. This bank forms a steep slope down to the beach at low 
water. Here mussels from the Tees have been planted by the 
Northumberland Fisheries Committee, and the fishermen have 
undertaken not to disturb them. They are growing well, the 
shells increasing in size and being well filled. 
The rocks at Amble are Coal Measure sandstones. The mussels 
on the right side of the river cover the fiat rocks lying between the 
tide marks, and also occur on the sand between the rocks and the 
loose stones, but there are none beyond low water mark. The rocks 
are much covered by Fucus vesiculosiis, and the mussels lie densely 
packed together. Owing to this they are of small size (If to 2 
inches in length). There is certainly no dearth of mussels here, 
but a systematic thinning would surely improve them, for they are 
* Report Northumberland Fisheries Committee, 1898, p. 33. 
+ “Report on the Crab, Lobster, and Mussel Fisheries in Northumberland.” — Northumber- 
land Sea Fisheries Committee, 1893. 
