Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

BRITAIN AT WORK. A GIGANTIC CATCH OF FISH : GUTTING FISH IN THE STREET. just before Christmas, when they totally disappear until the following year. The type of vessels engaged in the herring fisheries are known as luggers, and are equipped with nets capable of stretching out nearly three miles. The plan followed is to lay these nets out in a continuous line with a buoy attached to one end of them, while the other encl is fastened to the lugger itself. At stated intervals a buoy is attached, and the net allowed to float away with the tide. Occasionally such a number of herrings become entangled in the meshes of the nets that they are carried down to the bottom by the weight of the fish caught. A catch of herrings landed at Yarmouth on one occasion, taken in a single night, realised £ 180, and must have contained somewhere in the region of a quarter of a million fish. A lugger’s nets and equipment are worth ^350, and in the height of the season, off the East Anglian Coast, it is no exaggeration to say that between 5,000 and 6,000 miles of nets are laid out, watched by 18,000 to 20,000 men and boys. The number of herrings landed in a recent season totalled up to the enormous number of 2,136 millions ; and as an illustration of what these figures mean it may be pointed out that such a catch was sufficient to permit every man, woman and child in the United Kingdom making a breakfast off herring once a week throughout the year. The annual catch of mackerel takes place off the Sei I lies and the South of Ireland, and yields a quarter of a million sterling to the wealth of the country, while the Cornish pil- chard fisheries produce ^25,000 a year, and the sprat fisheries £18,000. Shell fish account for another £437,000, and may be said to conclude the list of important sea fisheries. It is difficult to state the number of persons directly or indirectly depending upon the treasures of the sea for their livelihood, but enough has been said to show that they form, from more than one point of view, a very numerous and important body of men. Francis H. Wood. Except when otherwise acknowledged, the illustrations accompanying this article are from photographs and original drawings kindly lent by the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. SCOTCH WOMEN CLEANING FISH, ABERDEEN. & coAberdeen.