Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/261

 DRIFT FISHERIES.] FISHERIES 251 able drift fisheries on the eastern and southern coasts of England, and tbe important mackerel fishery is mainly at the western end of the Channel. The value of that mode of fishing, technically known as &quot; drifting or driving,&quot; will be understood when it is remembered that it is the only method by which such fishes as herrings, mackerel, and pilchards, which generally swim at or near the surface, can be readily caught in the open sea, at any distance from the land, and in any depth of water, so long as there is suffi cient for the floating of the nets in the proper position. The term &quot; drift-net &quot; is derived from the manner in which the nets are worked. They are neither fixed nor towed within any precise limits of water, but are cast out or &quot; shot &quot; at any distance from the land where there are signs of fish, and are allowed to drift in whichever direction the tide may happen to take them, until it is thought desirable to haul them in. The essential principle of the working of the drift-net is that it forms a long wall or barrier of netting hanging for a few fathoms perpendicularly in the water, but extending for a great length horizontally, and that the fish, meeting these nets and trying to pass them, become meshed; they force their heads and gill-covers through the meshes, but can go no farther ; and as the gill-covers catch in the sides of the mesh, the fish are unable to withdraw and escape. Whether it be mackerel, herring, or pilchard, the manner in which the net works is the same ; the variations which exist relate only to the difference in habits and size of the fish sought after. Yar- We will first speak of the Yarmouth herring fishery, one mouth O f the most important English drift fisheries, and the one of JIT?! 1 ? which we have the oldest records. The thriving town of 61 J&amp;gt; Great Yarmouth in Norfolk is said to have been the resort of fishermen during the herring season as early as the Gth century, and there is no reason for believing that the fishery with which its name has been so long associated was ever carried on by any other method than drift-nets, as at the present day. An immense deal of information about the early records of the herring fishing at Yarmouth and other places has been compiled and published by Mitchell in his book on The Herring, 1 and to him we must refer our readers for numerous historical details on the subject ; but we may mention that, according to authorities quoted by him, Yarmouth was erected into a burgh by Henry I. in 1108, the annual payment for this privilege being &quot;ten milliers of herrings.&quot; The fishery was then evidently re cognized as being well-established, and herrings as the special trade of the town. A quaintly written account also of the origin of Yarmouth, as given by Manship (who wrote in 1619), is quoted in the following note by Swinden 2 in his history of the town : &quot; And now by pregnant probabilities, it is my opinion very clear, that from the landing of Cerdick (one of the Saxon adventurers) in anno 495, now 1124 years past, this sand, by the defluxion of tides, did by little and little lift its head above the waters ; and so in short time after, sundry fishermen, as well of this kingdom, viz., of the Five Ports (being then the principal fishermen of England), as also of France, Flanders, and the Low Countries, yearly about the feast of St Michael the Archangel, resorted thither, where they continued in tents, made for the purpose, by the space of forty days, about the killing, trimming, salting, and selling of herrings, to all that thither came for that purpose ; whereunto did resort the merchants of London, Norwich, and other places to buy herrings during the season, and then departed ; as those fishermen who kill fish at &quot;Wardhouse use to do at this present. So in short time after, as that sand became firm land, and that thereby traffic began more and more to be increased, men finding the same to be a com modious place to dwell and inhabit in, did for that purpose gather themselves together, to have a continual residence therein, and began to build houses, of which came streets, and of those streets this flourishing township.&quot; 1 The Herring ; its Natural History and National Importance (1864). 2 History and Antiquities of Great Yarmouth, p. 5 (1772). Without placing entire faith in Manship s conclusions, however, there is sufficient evidence of the antiquity of the Yarmouth herring fishery ; and as it keeps up its repute at the present day, and has indeed considerably increased in recent years, some details of its working may be acceptable. The nets used in the drift-fishing were formerly all made of hemp or tiax, but for some years past cotton has almost entirely superseded these materials. Cotton nets are manu factured at Bridport, Manchester, Mussclburgh, and other places, and are about 30 yards long and 9 or 10 yards deep. One of the long edges of the net, called the &quot; back,&quot; is fastened to a rope corked at regular intervals, whose pur- pose is to keep that part of tbe net uppermost. The number of such nets used by each vessel depends chiefly on her size, and ranges from 80 to 130, or even more. They are fastened together end to end, and thus united form what is called a &quot; train, fleet, or drift of nets,&quot; often ex tending to a length of more than a mile and a quarter. The size of the mesh was at one time regulated by law, and the smallest dimensions allowed in herring nets were one inch &quot;from knot to knot along the line, or, to speak more con cisely, one inch square. Under the present fishery regula tions, however, it is wisely left to the fishermen to choose a mesh of such a size as will be most effective in catching the fish, and their practical good sense docs not often lead them astray in this matter. With herrings of average size the inch mesh is found to do the most profitable work. An exception to this freedom from restriction to any particular sized mesh exists, however, on one part of the west coast of Scotland, and to that we shall direct attention when we speak of the Scotch fisheries. Twine nets are coarser than those made of cotton, and the material not being so flexible, machinery cannot be satisfactorily used in their manufacture ; they are therefore netted by hand, and are made in narrower pieces called &quot; deepings,&quot; which are laced together one below the other to make up the required depth. The labour of hauling in these nets is of course more severe than with cotton, on account of their greater weight and faculty of absorbing the water; and the comparative stiffness of the mesh is not so favourable to the capture of the fish when they strike the net. On the other hand, it was objected to the cotton nets that the thread was so fine as to cut into the fish which were meshed, and to tear off their heads as the nets were hauled in. What ever force there may be in this objection, the advantages in time and labour saved both in making and working cotton nets have practically decided in their favour, and cotton is now almost universally employed in all our drift-fisheries. The object of the cork-rope is, as we have said, to keep that edge of the net uppermost, but in the ordinary net the corks are only sufficient for that purpose, and will not prevent its sinking. This is provided against by the use of buoys, or &quot; bowls,&quot; as they are called, one being attached by a rope to each net, and by lengthening or shortening this rope the net can be kept at any distance below the surface that may be considered best for catching the fish. It is always a matter of uncertainty at what depth the fish may be found, and a good deal of judgment is needed in sinking the nets, if there are no signs of the fish being near the surface. It is found convenient to colour these bowls so as to mark the divisions of the fleet of nets. The first net, or the one nearest the fishing boat, is marked by a small white bowl, called the &quot; puppy,&quot; and at the end of the next four nets is a &quot; dan,&quot; or buoy with a pole carrying a small flag. The rest of the nets are marked in four divisions ; at the first quarter from the pole is a bowl painted one quarter red and three quarters white ; the next is half red and half white ; and at the beginning of the last division the bowl is three quarters red and one quarter white. All the rest of the bowls from the beginning to the