'
PRESENT STATE or LINE AN_D TRAWL—FlSHING.
75.
moderate distance of the land; and were the shes to become
so thinned that, with all the skill and energy shown in managing
the ships, the returns proved unsatisfactory, trawling might
voluntarilÿ disappear.
There is no reliable evidence, however,
that before such a result would happen irreparable injury would
'
have been done to the sea-sheries.’
_
'
'
_
,
Now, at that time there were in Scotland a totalof 611"
trawlihg-vessels—of which probably about one half ‘were
_
'
steamers, the other half being sailing-boats or vessels used for
‘
_trawling. The exact numbers cannot be obtained, but there
'
were from 12 to 20 boats used in trawli1ig at St Andrews, 6 to
8 came from Broughty Ferry, 2 or 3 each from St Monans and
'
_
-
Cellardyke, and others existed in the Moray Firth. Trawling,
'
indeed, at St Andrews was an 'old custom, the Buckhaven
shermen having introduced itearly in the century, and subse'
quently the local sher—men carried it on more or less regularly,
'
'
generally trawling in September and October, and in March
and April, though occasionally much longer; The frequent
'
presence, however, just before the period of the Trawling
_
Commission, of 10 or 12 powerful stea1‘n—trawlers to compete
with them on their own ground quite altered the aspect of
_affairs.
The energy with Which the steam—trawlers generally
'
'
worked—for trawling went on by night as well as by day,_and
in weather unsuitable for the liners—introduced in Scotland a
'
new era into the department. Fishing was to be carried out
_
no
longer by more or less independent crews, bound together
-
by blood—relationship or other ties, and whose working hours '
were
largely regulated by the weather and tides, or their own
'
convenience and necessities.
Yet, their
whole domestic life
_
was interwoven with the time-honoured pursuit.
Their wives
'
-
and daughters laboriously baited the hooks and arranged
the
lines in the baskets for ‘shooting,’ they gath—ered
the ‘bent’—
_
grass for separating the layers of the line, and
with the sons
dug lob—worms or procured' mussels for hait. In the olden time,
indeed, their wives and daughters were likewise their sh—
,
merchants, and disposed of their captures to the best advantage,
-
1
The numbers are taken from the Report of the Select Gommvlttcè of The
'
'
House of,Coinmons,
p. 396.
'
‘
PRESENT STATE or LINE AN_D TRAWL—FlSHING.
75.
moderate distance of the land; and were the shes to become
so thinned that, with all the skill and energy shown in managing
the ships, the returns proved unsatisfactory, trawling might
voluntarilÿ disappear.
There is no reliable evidence, however,
that before such a result would happen irreparable injury would
'
have been done to the sea-sheries.’
_
'
'
_
,
Now, at that time there were in Scotland a totalof 611"
trawlihg-vessels—of which probably about one half ‘were
_
'
steamers, the other half being sailing-boats or vessels used for
‘
_trawling. The exact numbers cannot be obtained, but there
'
were from 12 to 20 boats used in trawli1ig at St Andrews, 6 to
8 came from Broughty Ferry, 2 or 3 each from St Monans and
'
_
-
Cellardyke, and others existed in the Moray Firth. Trawling,
'
indeed, at St Andrews was an 'old custom, the Buckhaven
shermen having introduced itearly in the century, and subse'
quently the local sher—men carried it on more or less regularly,
'
'
generally trawling in September and October, and in March
and April, though occasionally much longer; The frequent
'
presence, however, just before the period of the Trawling
_
Commission, of 10 or 12 powerful stea1‘n—trawlers to compete
with them on their own ground quite altered the aspect of
_affairs.
The energy with Which the steam—trawlers generally
'
'
worked—for trawling went on by night as well as by day,_and
in weather unsuitable for the liners—introduced in Scotland a
'
new era into the department. Fishing was to be carried out
_
no
longer by more or less independent crews, bound together
-
by blood—relationship or other ties, and whose working hours '
were
largely regulated by the weather and tides, or their own
'
convenience and necessities.
Yet, their
whole domestic life
_
was interwoven with the time-honoured pursuit.
Their wives
'
-
and daughters laboriously baited the hooks and arranged
the
lines in the baskets for ‘shooting,’ they gath—ered
the ‘bent’—
_
grass for separating the layers of the line, and
with the sons
dug lob—worms or procured' mussels for hait. In the olden time,
indeed, their wives and daughters were likewise their sh—
,
merchants, and disposed of their captures to the best advantage,
-
1
The numbers are taken from the Report of the Select Gommvlttcè of The
'
'
House of,Coinmons,
p. 396.
'
‘