568 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
equipped, the largest being manned by twelve men. The revenue 
derived from this fleet is about seven hundred thousand pounds. In 
1857 three of these fishing-boats, belonging to the same proprietors, 
carried home three millions seven hundred and sixty-two thousand 
fishes.” 
Since the beginning of this century the Scottish fishermen have 
emulated the zeal of the English. In a paper communicated to the 
British Association in 1854, Mr. Cleghorn, who has paid great atten- 
tion to the subject, states “ that there are nine hundred and twenty 
Wick boats engaged in the fishing, and that the produce was ninety- 
five thousand six hundred and eighty barrels ” in one week alone, this 
being, however, a falling off of sixty-one thousand barrels from the 
previous year. The cause of this immense falling off was ascribed to 
a storm which had swept along the coast at the height of the season ; 
but Mr. Cleghorn was inclined to ascribe it mainly to over-fishing, 
which had gradually diminished the number of herrings captured. 
The boats employed by the French and Dutch in the herring- 
fishery are about sixty tons burden. They generally depart for the 
Orkney and Shetland isles. They afterwards betake themselves to 
the German Ocean, and fish the Channel in November and December. 
These boats carry up to sixteen hands, according to their size. 
Arrived at their fishing-ground, they cast their nets, as seen in 
Pi, NNIS. 
The lines of the Dutch fishermen are five hundred feet in length, 
composed of fifty or sixty different nets. The upper parts of these 
nets are supported by empty barrels or cork-buoys, the lower edge 
being weighted with lead or stones, which are kept at a convenient 
depth by shortening or lengthening the cords by which the buoys are 
attached. The size of the mesh of the nets is such that the herrings 
of a certain size are caught in it by the gills and pectoral fins. If the 
first mesh is too large to hold them they pass through, and get caught 
by the next or succeeding mesh, which is smaller. The herring-fishery 
is regulated by Act of Parliament, and the legal mode of capture is by 
means of what is called a drift-net. The drift-net is made of fine twine, 
marked with squares of an inch each to allow for the escape of the young 
fish. The nets are measured by the barrel bulk, a net measuring fifty 
feet long by thirty-two deep, and each holding half a barrel. The drift 
is composed of many separate nets fastened together by means of a back 
