BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 291 
edge of these details will be required by American fishermen should 
they ever undertake to prosecute the beam-trawl fishery. 
Less has been said concerning those subjects which seem to suggest 
i little that may be of practical value, and for this reason much has been 
omitted which might perhaps appropriately be included in a report of 
this kind. For instance, the notes on the trawl fisheries of France, 
Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Spain might have been expanded to a 
greater extent, but it is believed that these contain all the data which 
may be of any importance to fishing communities in the United States. 
It is proper that acknowledgments should be made to the following 
j gentlemen, who have lent their aid in various ways, but more particu; 
larly in furnishing such information as is required for a work of this 
character. Foremost among those who have assisted by their kindly 
|i efforts are Mr. Harrison Mudd and Mr. O. T. Olsen, of Grimsby, 
Mr. Edward Jex, of London, and Mr. T. F. Robertson Carr, of North 
i Shields, while others have furnished much interesting and valuable 
i data concerning the British beam-trawl fishery. 
Mons. A. Duchochois, of Boulogne, has supplied data relative to the 
French beam-trawl fishery. Mons. Jules Le Lorrain, of Belgium, has fur- 
nished many important facts concerning the fisheries prosecuted from 
that country. I am also indebted to Mr. A. E. Maas, of Scheveuingen, 
for information relative to the Dutch trawl fishery. 
The material upon which this report is based was chiefly gathered at 
Grimsby and Hull, and during a trip to the North Sea in 1880; also 
from a study of apparatus and methods at the International Fisheries 
Exposition at London in 1883. So far as I am informed, however, there 
has been little if any change since the last-mentioned date, beyond per- 
haps the introduction of additional steam- vessels in the beam-trawl 
fishery from the continental ports. 
I . — THE BEAM-TRAWL FISHERY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
B. History and Present Importance. 
Nothing definite can now be learned as to where or when the method 
of fishing with a beam-trawl in Great Britain originated. Undoubtedly 
trawl-nets of some kind have been in use for many centuries off the 
English coast, but there remain no records which would suggest that 
they were supplied with a beam to distend their mouths, and as the 
most primitive and oldest forms of trawl-nets now in use are unpro- 
vided with beams, it is probable that those first employed in England 
were of this type. 
The earliest notice which we can find of the trawl fishery in England 
is contained in the following petition, which was presented to Parlia- 
ment in 1376-U7 i 1 
Hfc will be noticed that there is nothing in this petition which indicates the use of 
abeam as a part of the apparatus; therefore one is left in doubt as to whether a beam- 
trawl or some other form is meant. 
