THE HERRING FISHERY. 
57 
twenty-five per cent, on the total earnings, we can nearly get 
at the worth of this industry there, and it shows no sign of 
falling off. 
The amount of capital invested is increasing, and the boat 
owners are applying the best possible mechanical appliance for 
developing the fishery. Steam capstans are fast replacing the 
ordinary manual winches for hauling the nets on board, and 
great improvements are taking place in boats and gear generally. 
The cost of a first-class boat is £700, nets, £220, ropes, £100, 
bowls, £25; and the 1000 boats in the two ports thus represent 
a total capital of half a million. 
One serious difficulty affecting the drift fishery in the North 
Sea, but especially off the Norfolk and Suffolk coast, is the 
damage to nets by foreign fishermen, principally Belgian trawling 
smacks, wilfully towing their trawls into the nets of our own 
herring fishermen, which are set at night, as it is not possible 
to catch herrings in the day time. So serious has this question 
become, that the various Governments bordering on the North 
Sea, and having any interest in the vexed matter, have held an 
international convention for better regulating the relationships 
between the fishermen of each nation. 
Just a few words about the fishermen themselves. In general 
the manners, customs, modes of life, and superstitions are somewhat 
alike in the various villages around our coast, though the same 
cannot be said of the fishermen belonging to our larger fishing 
ports ; for the same influences there have very much altered 
their tastes and ideas. Every fishing village has a history very 
much like its neighbour. From the small hamlet of say fifty 
years ago, each has gone through much the same development in 
its fisher life — from the few cottages, and few small boats, to the 
thriving village, and larger boats ; the two have become four, and 
the four eight, and so on — yet, withal, maintaining many 
traits of originality ; the old men priding themselves on their 
ancestry, while it is often that descendants to the sixth generation 
can be pointed out. 
Among the Scotch particularly the surnames are somewhat 
remarkable, especially among the fishers of the Moray Firth, 
where nicknames prevail to an extraordinary extent. These 
nicknames have become as hereditary as the real surnames, and 
