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a, the pectoral fin; b, the ventral fin; cc, the dorsal fins; d, the anal fin; e, the intermaxillary bone; f, the maxillary bone; g, the operculum; h, the sub-operculum; i, the pre-operculum; k, the inter-operculum.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Upper Jaw of a Trout.

e, the intermaxillary bone; f, the maxillary bone. Fig. 3. Front view of the mouth of a Trout.

Fig. 3.

, the vomer furnished with teeth; mm, palatine bones also furnished with teeth; n, the tongue with recurved teeth.

The lower jaw is generally composed of at least two bones on each side, the dental portion in front, and the articular portion behind.

The palatines (fig. 3, m m) are extended longitudinally on each side, and form part of the roof of the mouth; they are often furnished with teeth.

The opercular bones. The chief portion of the sides of the head behind the eye consists of the opercular bones: these are generally four in number, and are termed the operculum (fig. 1, g), the sub-operculum (fig. 1, h), the pre-operculum (fig. 1, i), and the inter-operculum (fig. 1, k). The first of these covers the gills.

The Branchiostegous rays (fig. 1, 0), which are often mentioned in descriptions, are situated under the opercular bones. The teeth in fishes are almost entirely osseous; they are usually of a simple spine-like form, and recurved at the tip. Teeth are found in almost every bone in the interior of the mouth; in the superior and inferior maxillary, and intermaxillary bones; likewise on the branchial arches, pharangeal bones (which are situated in the throat), and on the tongue. There is considerable variety in their structure, as will be found in the various descriptions of fishes found in other parts of this work.

The scales are composed of two substances, one resembling horn in its texture, and the other of a harder and bone-like nature; they are generally attached to the skin by their anterior edge, and consist of numerous concentric laminæ (secreted by the skin), the smallest of which is first formed. Certain scales, forming a continuous series, in a slightly waved line from the head to the tail of the fish, are pierced in or near their centre, and furnished with a tube through which a slimy matter is poured, which serves to lubricate the body of the animal. This series of tubes forms a line visible on the sides of the body, and which is termed the lateral line.

The structure, form, and position of the scales of fishes are very variable, and have furnished M. Agassiz* with characters for a new classification of these animals.

As regards the senses, those of taste and touch appear to @ See the Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles' of Louis Agassiz,

The

be but slightly developed in fishes. When we find the tongue thickly covered with teeth (as is often the case), and used as an organ of prehension, and when we consider the quick manner in which the food is swallowed, it would certainly appear that their sense of taste is very slight. sense of touch is probably most developed in the cirrhi attached to the mouth of those fishes that have them. The long filaments with which the fins of some fishes are fur nished also perhaps serve, through the sense of touch, to indicate the vicinity of weeds, or other objects in the water.

The eyes are differently placed in the various species of fishes, in accordance with their habits: for the most part they are placed laterally, and in some (those that live at the bottom of the water) we find them directed upwards. In some of the species of sharks (those of the genus Zygana) they are situated at the end of an elongated lateral process on each side of the head.

The sight in fishes is acute, the range of vision however is probably somewhat limited. The eyes (which are furnished with a spherical lens) are generally large but in some species they are very small, whilst others appear to

be destitute of them.

Although fishes appear not to possess certain portions of the auditory apparatus, observed in animals of a higher grade, they nevertheless possess the sense of hearing.

There are reasons for the belief that the sense of smell in fishes is tolerably acute: their olfactory nerves are of large size, and disposed over a considerable extent of surface.

By far the greater number of fishes are of carnivorous habits; there are some however which feed upon vegetable substances, and we find the stomach modified accordingly as in other animals.

The sexes of fishes, if we except the sharks and rays, offer no very decided external characters by which they may be distinguished: as in the higher animals, however, observes Mr. Yarrell, the respiratory organs occupy more space in the males than in the females; and, on the other hand, the abdomen is larger in the females than in the males: the males may therefore be known from the females by their somewhat sharper or more pointed head, the greater length of the gill cover, and the body from the dorsal fin downwards being not so deep compared with the whole length of the fish.'

The sexual organs of fishes are in the generality of the species of a more simple nature than is observed in the higher orders of the vertebrata, consisting, as will be found, towards the season of producing their young, of two elongated oval lobes of roe, one on each side of the body, placed between the ribs and the intestinal canal; the lobes in the female, called hard roe, contain a very large number of roundish grains, called ova or eggs, which are enclosed in a delicate membranous tunic or bag, reaching to the side of the anal aperture, where an elongated fissure permits egress at the proper time. In the males, the lobes of roe are smaller than in the females, and have the appearance of two elongated masses of fat, which are called soft

roe; they remain however firm till the actual season of-Branchise with the pectinations continuous; opercule spawning, when they become by degrees more and more fluid, and the whole is ultimately voided by small portions at a time under slight abdominal pressure. ***

'At the season for depositing the spawn, which varies with almost every genus, some species repair to the gravelly shallows of rivers, and others to the sandy bays of the sea. This movement is called by fishermen "going to hill, or roading;" other species resort to bunches of weeds. In many instances, when ready to deposit her spawn, a female is accompanied by two males, one on each side, a provision of nature which seems intended to secure the impregnation of the largest quantity of ova, and the range of the influence of the male fluid is enormously increased by diffusion in water. The adhesive nature of the surface of each egg supplies the means of attachment to any of the various substances near which it may happen to be left; and the time required for the appearance of the young fish is very variable, depending upon the species, the season, and its temperature. The young fish is first apparent as a line wound round the central vitelline portion of the egg, and ultimately escapes by rupturing the external capsule with its tail.'

We now proceed to give an outline of Cuvier's classification of fishes, since it is that which is perhaps most generally adopted: it is nevertheless in many respects very artificial.

Fishes are divided by this author into two series, that of ordinary fishes, or Ossei*, distinguished by having the skeleton bony; the osseous matter being disposed in fibres; the sutures of the cranium distinct; maxillary and intermaxillary bones, either one or both present: and that of the Cartilaginei or Chondropterygii, distinguished by having the skeleton cartilaginous; the bones destitute of fibres; sutures of the cranium indistinct; maxillary and intermaxillary bones either wanting or rudimentary, their place being supplied by the palatine or vomer.

These two series are subdivided as follow:

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Order 3. Cyclostomi Pteromyzida

The characters of the two great series or sections into which fishes are divided it has been shown are taken from the nature of the skeleton. It remains for us now to make a few observations upon the minor subdivisions.

In the Ossei, or bony fishes, there are three sections. Those of the first, the Pectinibranchii, possess the following characters:-Branchiæ in continuous pectinated ridges, furnished with an opercular and branchiostegous membrane; jaws complete and free. Section 2, Plectognathi: Cuvier gave no name to this section; the one here used is that given by Mr. Jenyns: other sectional names have also been taken from the same author.

and rays concealed beneath the skin; external aperture a simple cleft; jaws incomplete; maxillary firmly attached to the side of the intermaxillary, which alone forms the jaw; palatine arch united to the cranium by suture, and immovable. To this section belong the globe-fishes, filefishes, &c. Section 3, Lophobranchii:-Branchiæ in small tufts; opercule large, confined on all sides by a membrane, with only a small hole for the external aperture; branchiostegous rays rudimentary; jaws complete and free. To this section belong the pipe-fishes, hippocampus, &c. The two latter sections contain but a limited number of species: the Pectinibranchii, on the contrary, contain all the ordinary and typical fishes, and, as is seen in the foregoing list, is subdivided into three orders. The fishes of the first of these orders, the Acanthopterygii, are distinguished by their having the anterior part of the dorsal, anal, and ventral fins furnished with simple spinous rays. The perches, mullets, gurnards, mackerels, &c., therefore belong to this order. In the second order, the Malacopterygii, all the finrays are flexible, with the exception sometimes of the first ray of the dorsal and pectoral fins. The three principal divisions of the Malacopterygii are founded either upon the position of certain fins, or their absence. In the first division, the Abdominales, the ventral fins are situated far behind the pectorals; as in the carp, tench, bream, dace, roach, pike, salmon, &c. In the second group, the Subbrachiales, the ventral fins are situated immediately beneath the pectorals (or even a little before them); as we find them in the cod-fish, haddock, and whiting. The flat fishes also belong to this group-such as the plaice, flounder, turbot, sole, &c. To the third and last of these greater divisions of the Malacopterygii belong the eels, which have received the name Apodes, from their possessing no ventral fins.

In illustration of the three orders into which the Cartilaginei is divided, the Sturgeon will serve as an example of the first, or the Eleutheropomi. The Plagiostomi contains the Sharks and Rays; and the Lampreys and Myxines chiefly constitute the Cyclostomi.

FISHER, JOHN, bishop of Rochester, was born at Beverley in 1456. He was educated at the collegiate school of his native place, and after some residence there removed to Michael House College, Cambridge, of which he became master in 1495. The patronage of Margaret countess of Richmond, Henry the Seventh's mother, first brought him into notice. The respect in which she held his character and her high opinion of his learning induced her to appoint him her chaplain and confessor. He was named the first Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity' in the University of Cambridge, and became bishop of Rochester in 1504. It was some years after this time that the actions of this prelate first gained him an historical notoriety. When Henry VIII. (1527) was anxious to prove both to himself and to others the illegality of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, he applied to the bishops for their opinions in the matter. One bishop alone refused to sign a declaration that the marriage was unlawful: this bishop was Fisher. Other persons indeed affixed his signature to the paper, affirming that they had his permission to do so; but the bishop resolutely denied that he had given them his consent; for in his conscience he believed the marriage to be valid. This refusal, and his continued advocacy of queen Catherine's cause, made him many powerful and lasting enemies. Not only did he become hateful to the king, who was desirous for the divorce, but the whole parliament took umbrage at his conduct. Sir Thomas Audley, then speaker, and thirty members of the House of Commons, were sent to complain to the king of certain derogatory words which Fisher was declared to have used respecting the assembled representatives; and it was with difficulty that he could persuade them to receive his explanation. Four years after, when both the parliament and the convocation were in debate upon the expediency of denying the pope's supremacy (1534), Fisher again stood alone. He dissented from all the other bishops, and could not, either by persuasion or argument, be induced to concur with their opinion. An event was now at hand which laid the foundation of his ruin. The imposture of Elizabeth Barton, the nun of Kent, was exposed by the diligence of Cranmer and others; and while the principal agents were condemned to death, it was likewise deemed fit that those who had been privy to the deception should not escape unpunished. Among these was Fisher, who, knowing this woman and her associates to be 202

impostors, disgraced himself by not exposing the imposition: he made many vain excuses, but was found guilty of misprision of treason. It does not appear that the king proceeded against him upon this charge till he was moved by new provocations. When the oath touching the succession and the king's supremacy was offered to him, the bishop of Rochester, as Sir Thomas More had done, refused to swear it. The king, now more than ever irritated against him, caused him to be indicted upon the statute and committed to the Tower: his bishoprick was seized,' says Burnet (Hist. Reformation, vol. i.), ‘and all his goods taken froin him; only some old rags were left to cover him; and he was neither supplied well in diet nor other necessaries, of which he made sad complaints.' Books were also denied him lest he should write against the king's marriage or supremacy. These inexcusable severities met with the most bitter censure of the Roman Catholic party; while many of the Reformers, especially the Lutheran preachers who had frequently been persecuted by Fisher (see Burnet, Hist. Ref., part i., book 2), privately rejoiced in his misfortunes. During his imprisonment Pope Clement, in spite to the king, and in kindness to Fisher, sent him a cardinal's hat. When the king heard of this, he desired that the bishop might be examined about it; but Fisher protested that he had used no endeavours to procure it: nevertheless his new dignity precipitated his ruin. His continued denial of the king's supremacy was no longer passed over: on the 17th of June, 1535, he was called to account for this offence. The Lord Chancellor, the duke of Suffolk, and some other lords, together with the judges, were appointed commissioners for his trial; he was found guilty, and condemned to die as a traitor. On the 22nd of June he was beheaded.

The character of Fisher is remarkable for firmness. In his steady maintenance of the fallen cause of queen Catherine, undaunted by the anger of the vindictive king, this quality peculiarly shone forth. Again, with regard to the supremacy, the obstinacy and tyranny of Henry VIII. were before him; it was clear that no circumstances or reasoning would alter the opinions of his opponents; if he did not change, certain persecution awaited him. He might have followed the example of numbers who, though zealous for papacy, had now deserted its cause: the spirit of the time was not only lenient to but favoured this species of hypocrisy. But, notwithstanding all this, Fisher was immovable, not being convinced that he was in the wrong; | his fearless firmness allowed him to maintain an open profession that he was in the right. He was a learned and devout man, and his conduct fully proved his sincerity. (Burnet's Hist. Ref.)

FISHERIES are localities frequented at certain seasons by shoals or great numbers of fish, sometimes of one particular description only, where they are taken upon a large scale. The right of frequenting these fishing-grounds has frequently been matter of dispute between governments, and sometimes the subject of treaties, while exclusion from them or invasion of presumed exclusive rights to their enjoyment has been the cause of warlike preparations. The principal kinds of fish which are the object of these systematic occupations are cod, ling, hake, herrings, lobsters, mackerel, oysters, pilchards, salmon, whales, anchovies, sardinas, sturgeon, and tunny. With the exception of the four last-named descriptions, the fishermen of this country are engaged in the taking of all these fish, and pursue their calling to an extent which makes each an important branch of national industry. The quantity of other fish taken by British fishermen is in the aggregate exceedingly great, and furnishes constant employment throughout the year to a great number of men on almost every part of the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland; but it has not been usual to apply the word fisheries otherwise than as we have already mentioned.

Of the British fisneries, some are carried on in rivers or their æstuaries, and others in the bays or along the coasts. Our principal cod-fishery is on the banks of Newfoundland; and for whales our ships frequent the shores of Greenland, Davis's Straits, and the South Seas. Of late, whalefisheries have also been carried on near the shores of New Holland and of the Cape of Good Hope.

The Appendix to the Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of the Irish Fisheries, which was presented to parliament in 1836, contains an historical sketch of the progress of the British and Irish fisheries, drawn up by Sir T. C. Morgan, M.D., one of the commis

sioners; and from this sketch the following particulars are
principally taken :-
The taking of herrings was extensively pursued in Scot-
land in the ninth century, and continued until the Couven-
tion of Royal Burghs prohibited the exportation of fish
before the resident population was supplied at a stipulated
price. In consequence of this interference, many of the
fishermen abandoned the pursuit at home, and settled in
Holland-a circumstance which first drew the attention of
the Dutch to the value of the Scotch fisheries. Several
enactments were passed under James III., IV., and V. of
Scotland for the promotion of the fisheries; and James VI.,
before his accession to the English throne, directed the
building of three towns for the same purpose; but this
measure failed of success. In 1633 Charles I. ordained
'An Association of the three kingdoms for a general fishery
within the hail seas and coasts of his majesty's said king-
doms.' A standing committee was named for the govern-
ment of the Association, which was joined by many persons
of distinction. For the encouragement of this adventure
the king ordered that Lent should be strictly observed;
but the breaking out of the civil war put an end to this
scheme. In 1654 the government, in order to give protec-
tion to the fisheries, remitted in favour of Sir Phineas An-
drews, who had embarked in the same, the salt duties and
'customs, and excise duties upon all naval necessaries ;'
besides which, voluntary collections were made from
wealthy and patriotic individuals for building wharfs,
docks, and storehouses, and for defraying other expenses.
These measures of protection' appear to have been unsuc
cessful; for six years later we find that the fisheries were
undertaken by Simon Smith, who, in addition to all the
advantages conceded to Sir Phineas, Andrews, was also
allowed the free importation of all commodities imported,
in return for fish shipped to foreign countries. Charles II.,
on his restoration, appointed, in 1677, a Council of Royal
Fishery,' to which the duke of York, the earl of Clarendon,
and other persons of honour and wisdom were named, with
powers to make laws for the management of the trade, and
to punish any persons who should offend against their pro-
visions. For further encouragement, a lottery was granted
for three years; a collection was made in churches; and
an exemption granted for seven years from customs, both
inwards and outwards, on the sale of fish exported to the
Baltic, Denmark, Norway, France, and some other countries.
Besides this, all victuallers and coffeehouse-keepers were
compelled each to take a certain number of barrels of her-
rings yearly at 30s. per barrel, until a foreign market
should be established to the satisfaction of the council.'
Beyond these encouragements, a duty of 2s. 6d. per barrel
was imposed upon foreign herrings imported; and a pro-
mise was made of all such other advantages as experience
should discover to be necessary.' Great as were these
encouragements, no progress was made in the fishery for
sixteen years, at which time a charter was granted to a new
fishing company, which raised by subscription 11,580. This
company, which was renewed in 1690, also failed, and was
dissolved by act of parliament early in the reign of Wil-
liam III. Two further efforts, made in 1720 and 1750,
were alike unsuccessful. Various reasons have been as-
signed for these repeated failures. Among these reasons
may be mentioned, the rule which made London the head-
quarters of the fishery, it being the dearest port in the king-
dom, and the superiority of the Dutch in the art. Andrew
Yarington, in the second part of England's Improvement
by Sea and Land,' sums up all other reasons in this one
fact-We fish intolerably dear, and the Dutch exceedingly
cheap.

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In 1749 a committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire concerning the herring and white fisheries, and as the result of its labours a corporation was formed, with. a capital of 500,000l., under the name of The Society of the Free British Fishery.' A bounty of 36s. per ton on all decked vessels of from 20 to 80 tons employed in fishing was granted for fourteen years. This bounty was increased in 1657 to 56s. per ton, but without producing an adequate return to the adventurers, and in 1759, by the 33rd Geo. II., a bounty of 80s. per ton was granted, besides 28. 8d. per barrel upon all fish exported, and interest at the rate of 3 per cent. was secured to the subscribers, payable out of the Customs' revenue. The whole number of vessels entered on the Custom House books for the fisheries in consequence of this act was only eight. In

this year the whole buss fishery of Scotland, according to the
statement of Adam Smith ( Wealth of Nations,' b. iv. c. v.),
brought in only four barrels of 'Sea Sticks,' (herrings cured
at sea) each of which, in bounties alone, cost the govern-
ment 113. 158., and each barrel of merchantable herrings
cost 1597. 78. 6d. The explanation of this fact is, that the
bounty being given to the vessels and not to the fish, ships
were equipped to catch the bounty and not the herrings."
By the 25th Geo. III. (1785-6) the tonnage bounty was
reduced to 20s., and a bounty of 4s. per barrel was given on
the fish, limiting the whole payment to 30s. per ton, except
when more than three barrels per ton were taken, in which
case 18. per barrel was given on the excess.
On an average
of ten years 54,394 barrels were taken annually, at a cost to
the government of about 7s. 6d. per, barrel.

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In 1786 The British Society for extending the Fisheries and improving the Sea Coasts of the Kingdom' was incorporated, and a joint-stock was subscribed for purchasing land and building thereon free towns, villages, and fishingstations in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.' This joint-stock was raised by the subscriptions of a few spirited individuals, who did not look for any profitable return. The members of the society were chiefly proprietors of estates, and their object was the improvement of their property. No dividend has yet been made upon the money expended by the corporation; but it is expected that the lands taken for fishing-towns, hamlets, and fishermen's allotments, with the harbours, stores, and other buildings which they have constructed, may yield a return in rent.

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1833

11,008

48,181

33,274

81,455

1834

11,284

49,212

33,054

82,266

1835

11,359

49,462

32,861 82,323

1836

11,427

49,720

37,178 86,898

Another act was passed in 1808 for the regulation of the fisheries. The bounty was again raised to 60s. per ton on decked vessels of not less than 60 tons burthen, with an additional bounty of 20s. per ton for the first 30 vessels entered in the first year. Premiums amounting to 30007. were also granted for boats of not less than 15 tons burthen. This act prescribed regulations for fishing, curing, inspecting and branding herrings, and a board of seven commissioners was appointed for administering the law. This act, which was at first passed for a limited time, was made perpetual in 1815 (55 Geo. III., c. 94). The tonnage-bounty had in the mean time been extended to fishing-vessels of not less than 45 tons burthen. During the year 1814 only five vessels had been fitted out for the fishery from Yarmouth, and not one for the deep-sea fishery from any other port of Great Britain. For the inspection and branding of herrings the whole coast of Great Britain was divided into districts. In each of these officers were appointed to oversee the opera-jury. Their increased prosperity has arisen from their astotions of the fishermen, and to prevent frauds in regard to the bounty. The principal regulations affecting the curing of herrings were borrowed from the practice of the Dutch fishermen. In 1817 a further boon was granted to the fishermen by allowing them the use of salt duty free; a peculiar advantage, which ceased in 1823 by the repeal of the duty on that article.

The impolicy of granting bounties on production, the effect of which is to tax the people of this country in order that foreign countries may be supplied with articles of consumption at prices below their actual cost, came at length to be seen and acknowledged. In 1821 the tonnage bounty of 60s. above-mentioned was repealed; the bounty of 48. per barrel, which was paid up to the 5th of April, 1826, was thereafter reduced 18. per barrel each succeeding year; so that in April, 1830, the bounty ceased altogether. That this alteration of the system has not been productive of any serious evil to the herring-fishery will appear from the following table prepared from the reports of the commissioners of the British fisheries, wherein are stated the number of barrels cured, branded, and exported in each of the years ending the 5th of April, from 1815 to 1837. The average annual number of barrels of herrings cured and exported respectively in the five years that preceded the alteration was 349,488 and 224,370. In the five years from 1826 to 1830, while the bounty was proceeding to its annihilation, the average numbers were 336,896 cured, and 208,944 exported; and in the five years ending the 5th of April, 1837, the average numbers were 396,910 barrels cured, and 222,848 exported.

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1837 11,494 51,907 34,626 86,533 The impolicy of the bounty system has been placed in a very striking light by the evidence of Mr. Ternan, of Liverpool, a factor for the sale of fish. The fishermen of that part of the coast are mostly inhabitants of a village on the coast called Skerries, where the houses are neater and in better repair now than they were during the time of bounties, and the men themselves are 'better clothed, better fed, more industrious, and more temperate than they were during the bounty. Nothing was more calculated to demoralise them than the bounties, as they were given; nothing could have been more mischievous or more injudicious than the tonnagebounty system; it was, in fact, a bounty on idleness and pernishingly increased industry, and their greater reliance on their own exertions, without looking to extraneous aid.' In Scotland the fishermen have been able, from the profits of their business since the removal of the bounty, to replace the small boats they formerly used by new boats of larger dimensions, and to provide themselves with fishing materials of superior value.

A select committee of the House of Commons was appointed in 1833 to inquire into the state of the British Channel fisheries. A second committee was appointed in 1836 to consider the state of the salmon fisheries in Scotland, and in the previous year commissioners had been instructed to investigate the condition of the Irish fisheries. From each of these bodies reports have proceeded which have been laid before parliament and contain a considerable amount of information upon the subject.

Taking these branches of the inquiry in the order here given, we proceed to describe, as briefly as possible, the actual condition of the fisheries connected with the coasts and rivers of the United Kingdom. The appointment of the committee in 1833 arose out of the distress which was at that time said to affect the several Channel fisheries, and in its report the committee stated that these fisheries were generally in a very depressed and declining state; that they appear to have been gradually sinking since the peace in 1815; that the capital employed does not yield a profitable return; that the number of vessels and of the people to whom it gave employment is diminished; and that the fishermen who formerly could maintain themselves and their families by their industry were in a greater or less degree pauperised.

The cause of this unfavourable change, to which, as being in its opinion the most readily susceptible of remedy, the committee gave its principal attention, was the interference of the fishermen of France and Holland; but the principal cause of the distress was stated to be the great and in

Waterford, and from Mizen-head to Cahore point on the
Wicklow coast, in Ireland.

The following table, constructed from the reports of the late commissioners of the Irish fisheries, shows the number of boats and men employed, and the produce of cured fish in each year from 1821 to 1829.

Number Number of Barrels of

Cwts, of
Cod, Ling, Barrels of Cwts, of
Hake. Herrings other Fish

creasing scarcity of all fish which breed in the Channel, com- | pared with what was the ordinary supply 15 to 20 years ago, operating prejudicially to the fishermen, at the same time that a continued fall of prices has taken place in the markets.' This fall of prices could not have occurred in consequence of any scarcity in the supply. That there was a diminished quantity taken by the English fishermen may possibly have been true; but considering that the supply in our markets was actually increased so as to provide our growing Years. of Boats. Fishermen. Herrings Haddock, exported. exported. population at progressively decreasing prices, we can only account for the facts adduced by the committee by supposing that the foreign fishermen, of whose interference such grievous complaint was made, were better skilled and more persevering in their calling than our own countrymen a supposition which seems to be borne out by the circumstance of our having, since this report was delivered, been still more abundantly supplied with fish for our tables; while the cry of distress on the part of the fishermen has passed away, doubtless owing to the greater degree of skill and industry which they have since exerted.

1821

&c.

cured.

7,655

36,159

9,726

22,689

400

434

1822

9,304

44,892

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The principal herring-fishery off the coast of Norfolk and A complaint, the opposite to that brought forward by the Suffolk commences in September and ends in the beginning committee, has of late been preferred against our fishermen of December. Mackerel fishing begins 1st May and ends by the owners of the boats, who allege that, having ad- 1st July. No material changes have occurred in the seasons, vanced all the capital necessary for the undertaking, and but herrings are more numerous of late years on the Yorkhaving probably also contributed to the support of the men shire coast. For both fisheries decked-vessels of 30 to 60 during the dead season, under the faith of an agreement to tons register are generally used. receive at stipulated prices all the produce of their nets, the men so bound to them sell a considerable part of the fish which they take to boats despatched from the coast of France. These circumstances have been mentioned, because a great and it is thought a groundless impression was created by the result of the inquiry of 1833, which inquiry, it has been alleged, was undertaken to satisfy the desires of certain interested parties who wished to make out a case for the interference of government.

One branch of fishing wholly different in its object from all other branches has been described by the committee of 1833 under the title of the Stow-Boat Fishery. This fishery prevails principally upon the Kentish, Norfolk, and Essex coasts; and the object is the catching of sprats, not for food, but as manure for the land, for which there is a constant demand. This branch of fishing is represented by the committee to have much increased, and to give employment on the Kentish coast alone to from 400 to 500 boats, which remain upon the fishing grounds frequently for a week together and until each has obtained a full cargo of dead fish.

The facility which the pretence of employing vessels in fi hing gives to the operations of smugglers has led to an act of parliament, 6 Geo. IV., c. 108, under which vessels and boats of certain descriptions are required to be licensed by the commissioners of the customs. The licenses thus granted specify the limits beyond which fishing-vessels must not be employed: this distance is usually four leagues from the English coast, and it is affirmed that our fishermen are injured by this restriction, because some valuable fishing grounds lie beyond the prescribed limits and are thus abandoned to foreigners.

The

The pilchard fishery, which is carried on upon parts of the Devon and Cornish coasts, is of some importance. The number of boats engaged in it is about 1000, which give employment to about 3,500 men at sea and about 5000 men and women on shore. The pilchards visit our shores in August and September, and again in November or December: they come in large shoals into shallow water. As soon as caught they are salted or pickled and exported to foreign markets, chiefly to the Mediterranean: the average export amounts to 30,000 hogsheads per year. quantity was much greater formerly, when a bounty of 88. 6d. per hogshead was paid upon all exported. This bounty has now ceased, and as additional reasons for the diminution of the fishery, it is said that Lent is not now so strictly observed as formerly in the countries to which the exports are made, and that the heavy duty, equal to 188. per hogshead, imposed upon importation into Naples, which has long been the principal market, has checked consumption. The extent of the British herring-fishery has already been noticed. The places where it is principally carried on are Yarmouth, Lowestoff, Hastings, Folkestone, Cardigan Bay, and Swansea, in England and Wales; the coasts of Caithness, Sutherland, Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Morayshire, and Ross-shire, in Scotland; and Galway, Killybegs on the coast of Donegal, Mayo, the estuary of the Shannon, the coast between Dingle Bay and Kenmare, Bantry Bay,

Our chief salmon-fisheries are carried on in the rivers and æstuaries of Scotland. As no bounty has been at any time payable upon the taking or exporting of this kind of fish, it has been difficult to ascertain its actual or comparative amount. Some partial returns have been obtained from persons who have rented the different fishing grounds, but these do not offer a complete view of the fishery, and its produce being consumed within the kingdom, the customhouse, which takes no note of goods conveyed from port to port, affords no help towards supplying the deficiency. A detailed account has been given of the produce of the salmon-fisheries in the rivers on the coast of Sutherland, from which the following table, giving the produce for three years to 1835, has been taken :

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Esk No. of fish 29,096 The average weight of the fish may be estimated at 10 pounds.

Spey, Findhorn, Beauly, Borriedale, Langwell and Thurso, The produce of the fishings in the rivers Tay, Dee, Don, and of the coasts adjacent, are conveyed in steain-boats and small sailing vessels to Aberdeen, where they are packed

with ice in boxes and sent to the London market. The

shipments thus made from Aberdeen, in each of the three years ending with 1835, were as follow:

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