IRISH.] FISHERIES 263
The difficulty in ascertaining the precise number of boats and fishermen on some of the wilder parts of the coast is so great, however, notwithstanding the important fact that the coastguard is employed in collecting the information, that, as the inspectors tell us, the returns even at the present time cannot be taken as quite trustworthy. There was, however, an apparent increase of 46 craft and 585 fishermen, and this seemed certainly the most encouraging report that had reached us for many years. But an analysis of the return shows that this increase is more apparent than real. The inspectors conveniently divide the boats with their crews into three classes independently of tonnage, and this plan enables us in some measure to understand who are included under the head of fishermen. The divisions come under the following heads, and we give the returns for 1875 and 1876 for the sake of comparison: –
Year. Solely Fishing. Mostly Fishing. Occasionally Fishing. Boats. Men. Boats. Men. Boats. Men. 1875 1876 1341 1283 6241 6105 602 644 1870 2248 3976 4038 14,997 15,340
The total number of boats and men in 1876 was – boats 5965, and fishermen 23,693, being a slight increase in both over the previous year. But there is a falling off in the number of regular fishermen, and the increase is only in those who devote part of their time to fishing. We have it on the authority of the inspectors that the men in the third division, or occasional fishermen, are not employed in that occupation on an average for more than one month in the year, and yet we find the boats in this division form more than two-thirds, and the men nearly the same proportion, of the total numbers in Ireland.
The history of the Irish fisheries shows that great fluctuations have taken place at various times, but the last great decline undoubtedly dates from the period of the famine in 1846, and those who have been long acquainted with the west coast fishermen in particular believe that their present depressed state is entirely the result of that disastrous time. Local assistance has been given time after time with only a temporary improvement; and now the experiment is being tried of advancing money from the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund to enable the fishermen to provide the necessary gear for fishing. The applications for loans have been, as was expected, far in excess of the amount available for the purpose, and in very many cases no security could be obtained that the money would be expended in the manner proposed. No doubt some good will be done by these loans, but much lasting advantage is not to be expected from the system. Emigration has carried off thousands from the country, and mainly from the west coast, where, however, the majority of the fishermen were little more so than in name, and fishing was never allowed to interfere with sea-weed cutting, farming, and any chance occupation. There is this to be said, however, that on very many parts of the west coast of Ireland the weather is frequently so bad, and the seas so stormy that fishing cannot be carried on with any regularity; and when favourable times arrive, the neglected boats and fishing gear are too often unfit for use. On the east and south coasts things are in a better condition; important fisheries for herrings and mackerel in their seasons there provide profitable employment not only for Irish fishermen, but for large numbers of Cornish, Scotch, and Manx fishing boats, which until the last year or two have far outnumbered the native craft. There is plenty of fish to be caught on the Irish coasts; and the influence of the strangers is telling on many of the Irish fishermen, and leading them to improvement in their boats and all that relates to carrying on their work.
The principal methods of fishing in Irish waters are trawling, drift-fishing, and line fishing; there is also a little done with seans and trammels.
Trawling.
Trawling. – Dublin is the headquarters of the deep-sea trawlers and possesses a fleet of about 50 smacks, ranging from 30 to 50 tons, and working chiefly from that station. Deep-sea trawlers were first used from Dublin in 1818, when, as previously mentioned, some Brixham boats and fishermen were brought over. The fishing was found to be profitable, and the fleet of smacks was gradually increased until it reached its present size. The trawlers work throughout the year when they can get sufficient hands, but the light summer weather is not very suitable for them; and the attractions of the herring fishery and profitable employment on board yachts take away a great many men for several weeks from their ordinary occupation. The principal trawling grounds lie within a triangular space between Dublin and Dundrum Bays and the Isle of Man, and consist of a number of patches differing in shape and extent, which are worked over, either on the inner or outer grounds, according to the season. The Isle of Man ground, lying in deep water, and a favourite place for soles, is usually fished from March to July. In January there is a partial migration of the trawlers to the south of Ireland, and a very productive fishing place known as the Saltee ground, and about south-west from the Saltee lightship, near Waterford, is worked by them with advantage. Farther out at sea, at a distance of 30 or 40 miles from the land, and without any very clearly defined limits, is what has long been spoken of as the Nymph Bank.[1] Extraordinary results have been anticipated from fishing this ground, and no doubt there is plenty of fish upon it; but there are difficulties in working it properly, partly on account of many scattered rocks which interfere with trawling on it generally, and partly because of a want of organization for bringing in the fish and sending them to market. For a long time the greatest difficulty encountered was from the local fishermen, who would not work in a deep-sea trawler, or allow one to use her nets anywhere within the headlands, although the weather was too bad to go outside. Companies have been formed for trawling from Waterford harbour, but the determined hostility of many of the native fishermen, and the fears of others in consequence, have done more to discourage trawling there on a large scale than anything else. English crews have been tried, but it is not surprising that they should be unwilling to remain in a locality where the feeling against them was so strong. Matters seem to have improved of late, but a good deal of enterprise is needed to carry on the fishing in the way in which it might be done. Trawling is worked in the shoaler parts of Waterford harbour by the local fishermen; and the complaint made by them that the large trawlers did so much mischief in destroying the young fry, whilst the small boats habitually worked where the young fish were most abundant, was not too absurd to be listened to by the inspecting commissioner of fisheries a few years ago. A bye-law was therefore established (probably with the object of preserving the peace) to keep the large trawlers beyond a certain depth of water, and the small ones then had it all their own way inside. Under
- ↑ Mr Fraser mentions that in 1726 a proposal was made by MiWilliam Doyle, hydrographer, for supplying the large English markets with fish preserved in well-boats, from the southern coast of Ireland, and particularly from a fishing ground he states he had discovered, unto which he gave the name of Nymph Bank, from a vessel called the "Nymph," which he employed in the examination of this fishing ground. – Review of Domestic Fisheries, p. 4 (1818).
better than in 1876, those for mackerel and pilchards not so good; but the total quantity and value of the herrings, mackerel, and cod consigned to the English markets exceeded those of the year before.
