When Mr.Brady, Inspector of Irish Fisheries, visited St.Ives a few years ago, he saw captured, in one seine alone, nearly ten thousand pounds of this fish.
Not long since; according to a northern local paper,[13] a large fleet of vessels in full sail was seen from the west coast of Donegal, evidently making for the shore.

Many surmises were made about the unusual sight.

Some thought it was the Fenians, others the Home Rulers, others the Irish-American Dynamiters.

Nothing of the kind! It was only a fleet of Scotch smacks, sixty-four in number, fishing for herring between Torry Island and Horn Head.

The Irish might say to the Scotch fishermen, in the words of the Morayshire legend, "Rejoice, O my brethren, in the gifts of the sea, for they enrich you without making any one else the poorer!" But while the Irish are overlooking their treasure of herring, the Scotch are carefully cultivating it.